NC is less satisfied with public districts than charter, private schools, poll shows

North Carolinians are generally unsatisfied with the performance of traditional public schools, but Republicans and Democrats differ about why they’re unhappy, according to a new poll.

Elon University polled 800 NC adults between Nov. 19 and Dec. 1 and found that 50% gave traditional public schools grades of C, D or F, while just 36% gave them grades of A or B. The largest percentage group was people who rated public schools as a C, at 26%. But, traditional public schools had the highest percentage of C, D and F ratings, respectively, when compared with charter, private and homeschooling in the survey.

People tended to have a somewhat more favorable few of their local public schools with 48% of parents or guardians of children under 18 grading their local public schools A or B.

The polls comes after state data shows enrollment declined across NC public schools this year by about 1.8%.

“People aren’t happy with how schools are doing,” Jason Husser, Elon University professor of political science and public policy and director of the Elon Poll, told The Charlotte Observer. “North Carolina rarely, rarely ranks highly in terms of public K-12 education in the way that it does in other conventions, such as appearing regularly on lists of best states to do business.”

Most of those surveyed don’t believe teachers and school administrators are most to blame for school underperformance. Instead, they place responsibility with state and local elected officials. But, Husser said, people have not given up on public schools.

“Even though the schools themselves get low grades, people still want to see investment in those schools,” he said.

Funding

About 60% of those surveyed said school funding is a major factor in school underperformance.

“Most people do see that there’s a funding issue going on that needs to be addressed,” Husser said.

North Carolina spends about $12,100 per student, approximately $6,000 less than the national average. That places North Carolina in second-to-last place when it comes to school funding, according to U.S. Census data. In this metric, North Carolina ranks above only Idaho. For comparison, South Carolina spends about $155 less per student than the national average.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina General Assembly has still not passed a budget for this fiscal year, which began in July. As a result, state employees like public school teachers have not received pay raises from the state since the passage of the last biannual budget in 2023. Teacher pay in North Carolina currently ranks 43rd in the nation, trailing all other states in the southeast aside from Mississippi, according to the National Education Association.

While respondents across the political spectrum agreed school funding is an issue, there was a political divide when it came to what degree respondents believed underfunding is responsible for underperformance.

While Democrats were more likely to say a lack of resources was the primary reason for underperforming schools, Republicans were more likely to identify a lack of positive learning culture as the main problem.

“They’re not living on different planets,” Husser said. “It doesn’t mean Republicans don’t see funding is an issue, but they don’t see it as the primary explanatory reason, like Democrats tend to.”

There was overwhelming support across party lines, Husser said, for increased investment in teacher training programs. About 80% of respondents said they’d support a new state-funded teacher education program, while 75% rated qualified teachers as “very important.”

“There’s public dissatisfaction with overall school performance, but people still want to see state investment in good teachers, high quality teachers,” Husser said.

Charters and private schools

Respondents rated charter school performance slightly better than traditional public schools, with 41% rating them an A or a B, and 28% rating them a C, D or F. Meanwhile, 51% gave private schools a grade of A or B, while 20% gave them a grade of C, D or F.

Statewide, enrollment decreased in 105 of the 115 total NC public school districts over the last year, for a total decrease of 24,110 students. It’s a continuation of a trend: enrollment has decreased in NC traditional public schools by over 5% since 2019.

Meanwhile, enrollment at charter schools and lab schools across North Carolina has increased by 46.6% since 2019. The number of Mecklenburg County students opting for charter schools increased by 1.4% between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

But, Husser said, the survey suggested there’s widespread confusion about how school funding and decision-making happens. For example, while charter schools are publicly funded and are considered public schools in North Carolina, only 40% of respondents correctly identified them as such. About 34% said, incorrectly, that charter schools are private, while 26% said they were unsure.

About 28% said they were unsure how public schools in the state are funded, and slightly more than half knew that local school board members are elected by voters and not appointed. Only 41% of respondents knew that the state superintendent of public instruction is elected.

There are a lot of playmakers when it comes to decisions about NC schools, including state representatives, the NC superintendent of public instruction, local school boards and district leaders. It’s a complexly tangled web that the average person may not be able to parse, Husser said

“For a parent who wants to know, ‘I’m having this problem. How do I make it better?,’ it’s hard to know who to go to because it’s hard to know where the buck actually stops,” he said.

He suggested state leaders may need to undertake awareness campaigns to educate everyday people on how education decisions are actually made, or they may need to review whether the structure itself is too convoluted.

This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Rebecca Noel

The Charlotte Observer

Rebecca Noel reports on education for The Charlotte Observer. She’s a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Rice University. She later received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys reading, running and frequenting coffee shops around Charlotte.