Homeschool requests overload state government website

The N.C. Department of Administration website as it appeared Wednesday evening.

RALEIGH – Wednesday evening, the website for the N.C Department of Administration’s Notice of Intent to Establish a Home School was not available due to volume.

The website around 9:20 p.m. read, “The system is not currently available due to an overwhelming submission of Notices of Intent (NOI). It will be back online as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience as we work to process NOIs as quickly as possible.”

Classical Conversations Inc. CEO Robert Bortins, responding to the site being down, told NSJ, “Families are uncertain if the public schools will be able to serve their families needs for school this fall. The pandemic schooling at home gave them the opportunity to see that they could homeschool, and now they are choosing to do it intentionally.

Earlier today, Gov. Roy Cooper delayed his expected announcement on the plan to reopen schools for the 2020-21 school year, saying his administration needed more time to study the data, trends, and achieve buy in from parents and teachers.

The website message archived and can be viewed here.

The homeschool movement has grown exponentially in the past two decades in North Carolina, now with more homeschool students than private school students.