Charter School Marketing in North Carolina: Funding, Lotteries, and the Enrollment Math

Charter ADM by year (NC DPI):

Method note. ADM is average daily membership, which counts students by days enrolled. The waitlist figure is self-reported by schools and may count a student more than once if the student applied to several charters.

What this means for enrollment marketing. North Carolina charter enrollment grew every year in DPI's figures, and waitlists show demand is uneven: some schools turn families away while others have open seats. A school with open seats is competing with schools that families already know are full, so it has to be seen early and answer fast.

Taylor Wiz measures what we control: the cost of a submitted application. You know your own yield, meaning the share of submitted applications that become enrolled, attending students. Divide our number by your yield and you have your marketing cost per enrolled student.

The Taylor Wiz figure. Across 20 charter school accounts, from October 2025 to September 2026, a submitted application cost $113 in Meta ad spend over the full year, and $103 from October through July. The seasonal detail is in the Charter Enrollment Marketing Benchmark 2026.

The math at different yields, using $113 and $7,645 in first-year state funding:

Over more than one year. A student who stays four years brings about $30,580 in state funding at the 2025-26 rate ($7,645 times 4), before the local share. Use your own re-enrollment data for the number of years.

What this table does not include. Local funding, staff time, open houses, and printed materials. It is ad spend against state funding only, so the real share is lower.

Method. Total Meta ad spend divided by applications marked submitted in our CRM, counted only in months with at least $300 in ad spend. All 20 accounts are charter schools in more than one state. The full method is on Cost Per Enrolled Student.

The authorizer. The Charter Schools Review Board grants final approval of new charters (G.S. 115C-218.5). The Office of Charter Schools at NC DPI prepares the annual charter report for the Review Board and the State Board of Education.

What your ads must match:

1. Open admission. "Any child who is qualified under the laws of this State for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to a charter school" (G.S. 115C-218.45). Ads should say "apply," not "reserve your spot."
2. No ability screening. Unless the law or the school's mission in its charter provides otherwise, a charter "shall not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, or disability" (G.S. 115C-218.45). An ad suggesting students are chosen by grades or test scores conflicts with that.
3. No discrimination. A charter may not limit admission "on the basis of race, creed, national origin, religion, or ancestry" (G.S. 115C-218.45).
4. Your actual preferences. North Carolina allows preference for siblings, graduates of the school's own preschool program, children or grandchildren of full-time employees and board members (capped at 15% of enrollment unless waived), and children of active-duty military parents, among others (G.S. 115C-218.45). Mention a preference only if your school uses it.
5. Your lottery method. A weighted lottery is allowed only if the Review Board approved it as part of your charter (G.S. 115C-218.45).
6. Tuition-free. "A charter school shall not charge tuition or fees" except fees districts also charge and limited activity fees (G.S. 115C-218.50). That is a message private schools can't match.

North Carolina law does not name advertising either way. Whether a specific campaign is an appropriate use of public funds is a question for your governing board, counsel, and auditor.

North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship pays private school tuition for any K-12 student, with the amount set by family income.

1. Size. 106,789 students received Opportunity Scholarships as of April 6, 2026 (NCSEAA data, as reported by EdNC).
2. Award. Between $3,574 and $7,942 per student in 2026-27, depending on family income (same source).
3. New applications. 27,682 new applications by the March 2, 2026 deadline (same source).
4. Timing. Applications for 2027-28 open the first Monday in February 2027 (NCSEAA).
5. Federal tax credit. North Carolina opted into the federal scholarship tax credit by law when the General Assembly overrode the governor's veto of House Bill 87 on June 3, 2026. It was not on the IRS list of 27 opted-in states published June 8, 2026 (IRS, IR-2026-76). Donations can earn credits starting January 1, 2027.

For North Carolina charter schools, the message that competes best is the one private schools can't make: tuition-free, with no scholarship application required.

For North Carolina private schools, scholarship money reaches the school only when a family knows the program, chooses the school, and applies. See Private School Marketing Agency.

See published school results on Results.