Public School Forum of North Carolina

09/04/2026

This week, NC celebrated its highest graduation rate in history, along with achievement gains across nearly all grades and subjects. These important signs of progress come as state leaders consider how to modernize the state's school funding system.

This week, North Carolina celebrated its highest graduation rate in history, along with achievement gains across nearly all grades and subjects. While the results offer important signs of progress, they also come as state leaders consider how to modernize North Carolina’s complex school funding sy...

09/02/2026

North Carolina education leaders are looking into revamping how our schools are funded. At the center of the conversation currently is weighted student funding (WSF). Under this model, how much a school receives is tied directly to the needs of its students and community.

The Forum convened a bipartisan working group to model how WSF could work in our state. Visit ncforum.org/wsf to read the group's recommendations.

08/31/2026

The Forum seeking a talented artist to create original artwork to be featured in our 2026 Impact Report. This is a paid opportunity for a creative student to contribute their voice to materials that will be shared with a statewide audience.

Learn more:

The Public School Forum of North Carolina is seeking a talented high school student artist to create original artwork to be featured in our 2026 Impact Report. This is a paid opportunity for a creative student to contribute their voice to materials that will be shared with our audiences across the s...

08/31/2026

The Public School Forum of North Carolina released a report on Wednesday detailing findings and recommendations from its two-year study of a weighted student funding model, which lawmakers and advocates have proposed as an alternative to North Carolina’s current model for funding public schools.

Building on momentum in North Carolina to switch to a weighted funding model for public schools, the nonprofit released a report after two years exploring scenarios.

08/31/2026

North Carolina currently ranks 50th in per-pupil funding and dead last in the nation in school funding effort. Over the past two years, the Public School Forum convened a diverse working group of 80+ educators, superintendents and bipartisan lawmakers to build a modern, data-driven roadmap for public school finance reform.

Adequately funding our local public schools must remain a top priority, and the ‘how' is just as important as the ‘how much.'

Read our recommendations:

For over 90 years, North Carolina has funded its schools primarily through a resource-allocation model, which determines the total cost of education based on the cost of resources, such as educators and administration. For at least a decade, policymakers and other education leaders have floated the....

08/30/2026

Stakeholders across the state agree on what any weighted student funding formula in North Carolina must include:

➖ Guarantee that no districts lose money
➖ Evaluation for change
➖ Implementation Support

Read more about these non-negotiables and recommendations from our study group at

For over 90 years, North Carolina has funded its schools primarily through a resource-allocation model, which determines the total cost of education based on the cost of resources, such as educators and administration. For at least a decade, policymakers and other education leaders have floated the....

08/29/2026

The Trump administration is proposing to give itself greater authority to cut off education grants and reduce the size of multiyear awards after its efforts to end in-progress grants have repeatedly run into legal trouble.

The agency last year ended in-progress grants worth more than $2 billion, with courts often objecting.

08/26/2026

North Carolina currently ranks 50th in per-pupil funding and dead last in the nation in school funding effort. Over the past two years, the Public School Forum convened a diverse working group of 80+ educators, superintendents and bipartisan lawmakers to build a modern, data-driven roadmap for public school finance reform.

Adequately funding our local public schools must remain a top priority, and the ‘how’ is just as important as the ‘how much.’

Read our recommendations:

For over 90 years, North Carolina has funded its schools primarily through a resource-allocation model, which determines the total cost of education based on the cost of resources, such as educators and administration. For at least a decade, policymakers and other education leaders have floated the....