A chart from the Durham Public Schools FY 2025–26 Budget Book shows traditional public school enrollment steadily declining over the past decade, while charter school enrollment has continued to rise. Courtesy of Durham Public Schools FY 2025–26 Budget Book – Page 4.
Education
Declining Enrollment Shifts Millions from Durham Public Schools to Charter Schools
Enrollment in Durham Public Schools has dropped by more than 1,000 students this year as charter school enrollment continues to rise. The shift is redirecting millions in local funding and raising concerns about the district’s future.
On paper, the story seems simple: enrollment at Durham Public Schools is declining.
Since the beginning of this school year, the district has lost more than 1,000 students, while charter school enrollment has increased by about 650 students.
This year alone, declining enrollment meant the county allocated $4.7 million to charter schools that was initially budgeted for DPS.
But the situation is far more complex than the budget. The numbers reflect deeper tension within DPS over trust, perception and competition.
“I hate to use the word threat, but I think it fits in this case,” DPS Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Teetor said. “[Enrollment decline] is one of the greater threats to our local funding and our ability to continue operating in the way that we have.”
DPS is preparing to open two new charter schools, projected to enroll roughly 1,000 students for the 2026-2027 school year. Teetor estimates another $6.6 million could shift away from DPS next year.
In North Carolina, charter schools operate as publicly funded but independently managed schools. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are typically governed by nonprofit boards and allow families to apply for admission, often using a lottery system. Both charter and traditional public schools receive state and local funding.
When Students Leave, Money Follows
Students are leaving DPS at rapid rates, leaving administrators with a declining budget and no straightforward solution.
North Carolina funds public schools on a per-pupil basis. For every student enrolled in DPS who remains in class for a certain number of days, the district receives money from the county.
In 2025, Durham County approved a $7,130 per pupil funding.
North Carolina law requires school districts to allocate funding to public and charter schools based on student enrollment. As charter school enrollment rises, DPS funds that were once used to support teacher salaries, curriculum materials and other student resources, now are being reallocated to charter schools.
DPS leaders believe the loss of funds could have serious implications for the future of jobs in DPS.
“If we don’t have enough students to support a position, we can’t hire for that position,” DPS Director of Marketing Maria Bajgain said. “If we already have those positions in place, but we don’t have enough enrollment to support those positions, those positions would be eliminated. So it has quite a ripple effect.”
This year, the ripple effect caused a hiring freeze at DPS and changes in the central office. According to Teetor, the budget cuts only affected the central office and not individual schools.
The central office, which includes the superintendent, chief of staff, and other individuals at the administrative level, reduced its budget to make up for the missing dollars.
The goal, Teetor said, is to “insulate our schools” from the financial impacts of declining enrollment.
“Less children, less teachers,” Teetor said. “Less children, less instructional assistance. Less school counselors, potentially less social workers, right? It’s got to follow the students.”
The 10-Day Rule
When a student leaves DPS for a charter school, county funding adjusts as needed each month month. But state funding operates on a different timeline, based on enrollment counts taken early in the year.
“The local is a little more volatile,” Teetor said. “If a student was not with us in August, but they return in September, we stopped paying our local money in September. But that state money’s not going to come back until next year.”
State funding is determined by enrollment during the first 10 days of a semester. If a student begins the year at a charter school and later in the year transfers to public school, the funds allocated to that student remain with the charter school for the entire year.
A Crisis of Confidence
The numbers of students leaving for charter schools highlight the immediate financial impact without providing an explicit reason why. That’s what school board leaders are trying to understand.
“The way I see it is, number one, our parents have lost faith in our school system,” Kristy Moore, a school board candidate and public school parent, said. “Based on just a lack of transparency.”
In early 2026, three DPS administrators were indicted on felony charges related to a student safety incident at Eno Valley Elementary School. In 2024, a major pay dispute broke out between DPS and staff when promised raises were revoked after DPS cited a payroll policy error.
For some parents, these high-profile safety issues and internal disputes have raised questions about whether DPS schools are the right fit for their children.
“They don’t feel that their kids will be safe in public schools,” Moore said. “There are lockdowns a lot of times in our schools.”
In January, CBS17 reported multiple lockdowns at Riverside High School after anonymous tips falsely reported guns on campus.
Despite its flaws, Moore still sees the good in the DPS system – a system she continues to choose to send both of her daughters to.
“I think the biggest asset that we have is our educators, because they are doing the hard job and working very hard with the little bit that they do get,” she said.
Still, Moore believes the district has to be more proactive in shaping its public image.
“We just haven’t been strategic,” she said. “We’ve been reactive instead of proactive, and that’s been a problem in school systems forever. We just wait for things to happen to us instead of being open and up front and just saying, ‘Hey, we are the best choice and here’s why we have these options.’”
The Importance of Marketing
Bajgain said during the current enrollment period, DPS has been working to share its expanded magnet programs. The system also launched its Spark Initiative, a certification program for community members to learn the ins and outs of the district, including its educational programs.
When it comes to direct communication with families, DPS has also implemented a two-way communication platform called Rooms. The platform was created to streamline communication with families so they can communicate with teachers and staff directly.
Still, Moore said that she thinks there is more to be done from a marketing perspective. Moore said she would like to see DPS partner with a marketing company and work with businesses to sponsor mailers and support the community.
“There is a way to do it,” she said, referencing the continued improvement of DPS’s marketing campaign. “We just have to think outside the box and be willing.”
The Root of the Challenge
For Durham Public Schools, the challenge is clear: how to win back students while losing millions in funding. Meeting this challenge will require rebuilding trust and actively shaping the narrative of what DPS offers.
At the same time, DPS leaders are asking tough questions about how the district can improve, whether that means better highlighting unique programs already in place or learning from strategies used by other districts to attract and retain students.
Money alone does not decide where families enroll their students: trust, safety, perception, and experience all play a role, and these factors will likely determine how the next chapter of DPS is written.
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November 14, 2026
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November 14, 2026
That’s interesting about the shift to charter schools. Any idea what factors are driving this change?
Zooming out and looking at the real issues that are driving students and families out would be crucial shift for DPS. The folks that are focused on appealing magnet and specialty programs likely don’t represent the majority of those leaving DPS. They’re not leaving for specialty charter programs; they are leaving for a chance at competent leadership and well-supported schools. Rather than DPS pouring time and funds into marketing international baccalaureate programs or dual language programs that are barely functioning, DPS should consider a focus on the basics: teacher and staff retention along with student safety and whole child well-being. No specialty program can be effectively implemented when you have teachers leaving en masse due to lack of administrative support, poor working conditions- whether that be lack of planning time, unpaid extra duty, or buildings with mold growth and raging hot or cold temperatures in summer and winter months-, and students experiencing unchecked bullying incidents, struggling to understand instructional materials, and spending more time on a Chromebook in some classrooms than they are actually receiving live instruction from their teacher. Programs such as administrator training pipelines, transparency around how administrators are held accountable, and real listening to the needs of staff and teachers at the foundational level are the key to improving student and staff retention, which will directly and positively impact enrollment numbers. In it’s current state, there are a handful of DPS schools with families and students that love the school and happily recommend it to community members and incoming students. Those recommendations generally are not due to the benefits of specialty programming, but rather stem from a positive school culture, happy teachers, regulated students, and a responsive administration. Growing Together cited a need for equity and to address the transportation crises; what it failed to do was identify schools which parents and community members choose not to send their children to or ultimately withdraw their students from over unaddressed safety concerns, poor communication, and a school culture that does not engage families or students. The magnet and lottery process is competitive, confusing, and often communicated in a manner that does not meet parents and caregivers where they are. DPS needs to take a hard look at under-enrolled schools and base schools that parents do not want to send their children to; evaluate the reasons that a base school does not feel acceptable for families and recognize that it isn’t a lack of robust specialty programing. Speak to parents, administration, and teachers at schools with high retention rates and parent satisfaction to learn the secret recipe for success, and implement it district wide. DPS will likely find that families are not leaving for charter because they have a desirable STEM program, but rather they leave due to high staff turn-over rates and failed administrative leadership. Efforts should be geared towards more central office budget cuts, retaining quality teachers, and supporting the staff that are essential to a well functioning school. You cannot build and implement equity initiatives, specialty programming pathways, and innovative strategies if you do not first have the building level foundation from which to build. DPS has persisted in trying to create robust programs on a foundation that long been crumbling. The steps required to build a strong foundation have been communicated loudly and with increasing urgency from parents, caregivers, the community, and other stakeholders while DPS continues to respond “we hear you, we are listening” and proceeds to take the same steps that they have been taking for years that have demonstrably not only failed, but further driven students out. Yes, we are in a complex political landscape where funding is challenging and limited. DPS wants to increase enrollment and they have worked to bring in thought leaders who can innovate change. Perhaps they should actually change something rather than doing the same things they have been for years, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to assess buildings, create plans, and proceed to do nothing and cite supply limits or other constraints. In one example, an elementary school had blue print for renovations in the 2021-2022 school year. Now, the same school is on the short list for merging and demolition. What happened to those plans, blueprints where time, money, and effort was given only for no actual work to be performed? Where did the COVID funding for providing outdoor classrooms and refillable water bottle stations at every school end up? Why is transparency and budgeting so difficult for folks who claim to be experts? Where is the advocacy from DPS in Durham and across the state to encourage parents and community members to elect representatives that will fund public education? Where is the community education that will empower folks to understand the impact that state level decisions have on our schools, and what steps can be taken to impact change? We have a superintendent who wrote an article addressing the importance of demonstrating respect, addressing microaggressions, and setting an example for our children. This is the same superintendent that has yet to meet with a collective of parents who requested a meeting to share the concerns about their elementary school losing enrollment and teachers at an alarming rate. This group of parents was told “trust us, we have a plan”- the plan is not working at our school, or at the vast majority of others, and still these parents have received a response that included a hand-selected group of 2 out of 240+ parent signatures, and no evidence of results despite implementation of a plan. Central office leadership repeatedly and demonstrably ignores outcries from teachers and parents across the district. Respect, budget constraints, the complexity of public education are all excuses that DPS has repeated for many years as to why they have failed to address challenges facing our schools. The time is now for an urgent shift and envisioning of what practical, meaningful action steps should be taken to improve enrollment and support our children.