More than 99% of students were not involved in a reportable crime on campus, said Michael Maher, chief accountability officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Most schools reported only zero to five criminal offenses at their school last year, he said.
Criminal offenses went down again in North Carolina schools during the 2024-25 school year, with another significant drop in offenses for weapon possession, new data shows.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released the latest public school crime statistics during the State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday.
The drop in criminal offenses reported reflects ongoing trends, but so does a continued rise in offenses for drug possession.
Total offenses dropped from 12,212 the year before to 11,470 offenses last year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which released the data Wednesday afternoon.
Offenses for weapon possession dropped to their lowest level since the 2006-07 school year, the earliest year for which data are available. They dropped to 1,875 offenses, down from 2,378 offenses last year.
Offenses for drug possession, however, rose to 7,113 offenses last year, up from 7,005 the year before and 4,339 during the 2006-07 school year.
More than 99% of students were not involved in a reportable crime on campus, said Michael Maher, chief accountability officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Most schools reported only zero to five criminal offenses at their school last year, he said.
Maher said he believes the data show concentrations of issues but not a broad problem.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green said he believes the data shows schools are relatively safe but that some criminal offense data “certainly shows there’s work to be done.”
Many State Board of Education members agreed.
“North Carolina has safe schools,” Board Member Olivia Oxendine said.
Board Member Wendell Hall said that the data presented Wednesday, including suspension data, is still driven by drug use and punishments for vaping in school. It’s evidence that North Carolina needs more school counselors, social workers and other support professional — something the board has long asked for.
“We need more personnel in mental health issues,” Hall said.
Green emphasized that after Wednesday’s meeting in an interview with WRAL News.
“We do need more resources to support our students, particularly our health professionals because they would be the ones that would help directly with our students and help them make better choices,” Green said.
The numbers weren’t surprising to Karen Fairley, executive director at the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools, which is housed under the State Bureau of Investigation.
To Fairley, things are trending in right direction, in part because state officials, lawmakers, schools, faith groups and many others are committed to it.
“It feels like what we already know here at the center, that schools are doing what they need to do to keep our children safe,” Fairley said.
The drop coincided with declines in suspensions, also reported Wednesday. In-school suspensions dropped to about 242,000 last year, down from about 264,000 the year before. Abut 124,000 students were in-school suspended last year. Short-term suspensions out of school dropped to about 234,000 last year, down from about 245,000 the year before.
Students who are boys, economically disadvantaged, Black, American Indian, two or more races, and/or a student with a disability are suspended at disproportionately much higher rates, data show.
The state collects criminal offense data from principal reports, and it reflects offenses that have occurred — meaning, the number of students associate with a crime. the report doesn’t indicate whether complaints were ever filed or whether anyone was found guilty, and principals don’t have to indicate that. The reports collect data only on 16 “reportable acts” outlined in state law, not necessarily any type of crime.
Major drop in weapons possession offenses
Offenses for weapons possession have largely dropped over the past two decades, though they’ve dropped to their lowest level over that time last year.
Schools across the state have installed more weapons detection systems, and the lower numbers of weapons found could indicate the detectors are serving as a deterrent to students brining them to school, while schools aren’t finding more weapons. Before those detection systems, however, offenses for weapons possession had already dropped precipitously, before a post-pandemic spike in offenses.
Offenses for firearm possession have also dropped significantly, to 103 offenses last year, down from 159 offenses the year before. That’s below the 19-year average of 113 offenses for firearm possession.
Fairley had thoughts on why weapons and firearms offenses were down but didn’t want to attribute them to one thing, such as weapons detectors.
“The one thing about prevention is hard to determine what did not happen and why,” she said.
Fairley says weapons detection systems are only on recent effort some schools are making. She points to efforts that have been going on for longer that could be contributing to the drops that happened years ago, such as an increase in school resource officers, programs educating students about gangs and gun violence, and behavioral threat assessment teams that have been around for years but are now required at every school by state law.
The Center is also focused on emphasizing kindness among students at all schools.
“Will it eliminate all the weapons? Of course, it won’t, because there are other reasonings,” Fairley said. “But we do know that a lot of times bullying can be a reason that children feel the need to bring a weapon to the school.”
Continuing rise in drug possession offenses
One area of crime that’s bucking the trend of decline is offenses for drug possession. While criminal offenses have generally declined during all years but for the post-pandemic spike, drug possession has not.
The increase to 7,113 offenses last year represents a 63.9% increase from the 4,339 during the 2006-07 school year.
In the past, DPI has suggested the increase could be related to an increase in schools’ use of the Say Something Anonymous reporting app for reporting concerns.
Data from 2022 to 2025 show reports for drug possession are the second-most common, behind reports of bullying.