The following numbers come from a post by Clayton Henkel at NC Policy Watch today.

K-12 students:

1.4 million — Number of public school students in North Carolina returning to class this week

130,000 — Number attending charter schools

126,000 — Number attending charter schools in 2020-2021

160,528 — Number learning in a homeschooling setting (2021-22 school year)

14,408 — Estimated enrollment of home schoolers in Wake County, which has the largest enrollment of homeschoolers in the state

20,377 — Number of students who received vouchers to enroll in more than 500 nonpublic schools last year

$56 million — Increase NC lawmakers included in the state budget for the Opportunity Scholarship (voucher) Program.

51 — Percentage of eligible North Carolina 4-year-olds enrolled in the public NC Pre-K program (Source: myfutureNC.org)

75 — Percentage of eligible 4-year-olds in each county enrolled in NC Pre-K in North Carolina by 2030, according to the state’s goal

76% — More than three-quarters of students still attend traditional public schools

$9,958 — North Carolina’s per-pupil spending places the state at 43rd in the nation. (Source: Census.gov)

$11,532 — South Carolina’s per-pupil K-12 spending (Ibid)

$10,954 — Average per-pupil spending in the South (Ibid)

$865 — Average amount per U.S. household planned for back-to-school spending this year

In higher education:

244,508 — Number of students enrolled in the UNC system (2021 system enrollment report)

500,000+ — Enrollment in North Carolina’s Community College System, a network of 58 public community colleges

2 million — Number of adults with a post-secondary degree or high-quality credential by 2030, according to the state’s goal (Source: myfutureNC.org)

1.2 million — Number of North Carolinians ages 25-44 who hold an associate’s degree or higher

Our teaching workforce:

23,418 — Number of North Carolina teachers who have earned National Board Certification, the highest credential in the teaching profession

23% — Percentage of all teachers in the state holding the National Board Certification

$54,150 — Average annual teacher salary in North Carolina

24.5% — The “pay penalty” — the compensation disparity — between North Carolina teachers and other comparable college-educated workers

11,297 — Number of teacher and staff vacancies superintendents reported earlier this month just ahead of the new school year

1,342 — Number of bus driver vacancies across the state as of Aug. 19

2013 — Year that North Carolina lawmakers removed salary increases for educators with advanced degrees

11 — Number of days since a subcommittee of the state Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission voted 9-3 to ask the State Board of Education to seek reinstatement “master’s pay” in hopes of improving teacher retention

$526 — Average amount  North Carolina teachers spend of their own money to buy classroom supplies for their students

2 — Number of days remaining before the Leandro school funding case returns to the NC Supreme Court — education advocates will hold a press conference and prayer vigil at 9 a.m. ahead of Wednesday’s court hearing, at 2 E. Morgan St., Raleigh