By Amy Cockerham
Public Ed Works

RALEIGH (December 17, 2025) – Public schools are grappling with the negative effects of increasing segregation, and North Carolina’s expanded private school vouchers only aggravate the issue.

Dr. Corina De La Torre is the Manager of Policy, Research, and Community Engagement at the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED). A dissertation she published this year found evidence that North Carolina’s public education system is resegregating, so that schools are increasingly dominated by students of one race.

De La Torre’s research shows from 2002 to 2022, in urban areas the share of intensely segregated schools rose substantially in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (16% to 46%), Durham County (24% to 48%), and Guilford County (14% to 33%).

She said growth in the urban minority population was likely the main driver of the numbers. However, the school-choice movement is a factor as well.

Kris Nordstrom, a senior policy analyst with the North Carolina Justice Center, studies the demographics of voucher recipients.

“What we’re seeing so far is that 73% of voucher students are white, and that compares to in the public schools, 42% of the students are white,” Nordstrom said. “The vouchers are disproportionately going to white students.”¹

The initial intent of the voucher program established in 2013 was to provide low- and moderate-income families with an alternative to low-performing public schools. In 2024, though, state legislators lifted income limits on who can apply for vouchers.

“Very similar to in the past, there’s the white flight of parents and students,” De La Torre said. “It was just easier for students and parents to decide where to send their students, to avoid that integration of schools, and so, yeah, I think it does play a huge factor in today’s schools.”

Research shows that segregated schools negatively impact achievement, college success, long-term employment and income among students of color.

“In the new modern workforce, as well as our modern democracy, one of the things that keeps those things working is the ability of people to be able to relate to folks with different backgrounds,” Nordstrom said.

“That’s vital to us continuing as a society, and integrated schools are how we do that. That’s where kids learn to form cross-racial, cross-class solidarity, and to understand different perspectives.”

The more people who use the private school voucher program, the more tax dollars leave public schools that are already chronically underfunded. A public school district can lose tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars due to students leaving their public schools with a voucher.

“It’s definitely causing harm,” De La Torre said. “You see schools financially struggling to provide updated school material, advanced curriculum for students and resources.”

---

1 https://www.ncseaa.edu/opportunity-scholarship-summary-of-data/.