As home to two public school districts and a host of nontraditional private schools, Cabarrus County is rich in choices for parents and students.

The Cabarrus County school district, which is the 10th largest in the state, has more than 28,000 students enrolled in its 37 schools. The system continues to grow rapidly along with the community, continuously making room for the additional 1,500 students who enroll each year. The district has more to boast about than growth, with 2,000 teachers achieving National Board Certification and 735 educators obtaining advanced degrees. Also, the school system is ranked in the top 20 in the state for SAT scores.
Kannapolis City Schools has nine schools within its district, where students consistently achieve the highest physical science scores in the state and excel in the areas of biology, chemistry, algebra II and geometry.

In addition, Kannapolis City Schools is one of only seven sites in the state with a Cyber Campus, and partners with North Carolina School of Science and Math to provide enhanced curriculum opportunities to students. The campus is located in the east wing of A.L. Brown High School.

The county has a variety of quality private educational institutions, including Cannon School, Covenant Classical and First Assembly in Cabarrus and Harvest Christian Academy, North Kannapolis Christian and Footprints Christian Academy in Kannapolis.

In addition, the county's first charter school, Carolina International Charter School, opened in 2004. The school accepts applications and chooses attendees using a lottery system, placing all unselected students on waiting lists. Each grade level focuses on an international city, writing to pen pals and communicating electronically to develop relationships with peers from other countries.