According to a survey commissioned by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, nearly 80 percent of parents favor allowing families to choose which public school their children attend, regardless of where they live.
Support rises above 80 percent among Hispanic, black and low-income parents. In all three groups and overall, more than 50 percent of parents “strongly favor” the concept.
More than 70 percent of parents want a charter school in their neighborhood, although only 30 percent are interested in sending their child to one.
Given the geographic assignment that dominates the public school system, it is not surprising to see that about a third of parents said they moved so their child could attend a specific school. That portion was higher among wealthy families than low-income families.
Many parents want to send their children to charter schools but can’t. About half of those cited problems accessing the schools, implying that not enough charter schools are open and existing ones aren’t large enough.
Before hearing a definition of charter schools, about half of parents had a favorable opinion.
“The results from this survey reinforce the demand for more high-quality charter schools,” Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said in a press release. “Today, nearly 3 million students are enrolled in about 7,000 charter schools, but there are still numerous students on wait lists. These results should make it clear to our nation’s leaders that they need to make charter school access a priority.”
Charter schools are publicly funded and do not charge tuition. Compared to traditional public schools, charters have more independence and flexibility in their operations and curricula, which is why so many families find charters desirable. They are open to all students, but they often don’t have enough space to meet demand. In that case, they use a lottery system to determine admission.
The survey, conducted by Braun Research Incorporated, surveyed about 1,000 parents of school-aged children across the country. The margin of error for national numbers is 3.1 percentage points, and higher for demographic subgroups.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
