Opportunity Scholarship Applications Exceed 100,000

This week, data from the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority revealed that the Opportunity Scholarship program now has over 104,000 applications from students across North Carolina, including every county. In 2024, North Carolina Republicans overrode then-Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of universal school choice legislation, and since then, the Opportunity Scholarship program has continued to grow. When the program began in 2015, only 1,200 families received funding; a decade later, it has grown almost 10 times its original size. Additionally, enrollment data for the 2026 school year is incomplete because the school year is still ongoing.  

Here are the counties that are some of the top recipients of Opportunity Scholarships: 

• Wake County: 14,237 

• Mecklenburg: 11,143 

• Guilford: 5,389 

• Cumberland: $4,647 

• Forsyth: 4,229 

• Union: 3,570 

• Durham: 2,578 

• Gaston: 2,414 

• Pitt: 2,363 

• Alamance: 2,303 

In 2024, the Republican-led General Assembly expanded the opportunity scholarship, proving every North Carolina family the opportunity to pick a school that works for their family. In response to expanding educational freedom and opportunity, then Governor Roy Cooper overreacted by declaring a “State of Emergency for Public Education” with dire predictions that public education was facing an imminent threat.  

Tim’s Take: Throughout his time as Governor, Cooper was an active opponent of educational freedom. As the program expands as families experience a school that works for them, the number of voters against Cooper increases. With President Trump’s expansion of school choice on the federal level, this should be a key issue in the race for U.S. Senate, especially since Cooper has been on the wrong side of the issue for decades.