Private schools on rise: Analysis shows trend among better-off families in Mecklenburg.

Byline: Peter Smolowitz and Ted Mellnik

Sep. 8--More of Mecklenburg County's better-off families are putting their kids in private schools, according to an Observer analysis of new census data. Last year, 36 percent of their children attended private schools. That's up from 26 percent in 2000. These households earn more than five times the poverty level -- at least $78,000 for a family of three; $99,000 and up for a family of four. Today, the county's private school students are even more likely to be white. And they're more likely to live in the suburbs, where last year, residents pushed to break away from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and mounted the strongest opposition to a bond package that got trounced. The rise in private-school enrollment does not signal a widespread exodus from CMS. For example, the district held on to 88 percent of the county's middle-income students (whose families earn between two and five times the poverty level).…