New data from an Education Next poll shows that support for school choice is surging.
About 54 percent of the public supports “wider choice” for public-school parents by “allowing them to enroll their children in private schools instead, with government helping to pay the tuition” — commonly known as a school voucher. That represents a 9 percentage point increase from the same poll last year.
Additionally, support for tax credit scholarships — for which funds are not state-sponsored like vouchers, but rather deducted from individual and corporate taxes — increased from 55 percent to 57 percent.
Moreover, opposition to vouchers that allow parents to choose a school for their child has decreased 13 percentage points, from 37 percent to 31 percent. The same decline is present in those opposed to charter schools, which has fallen from 44 percent to only 35 percent opposed.
Among respondents, Hispanic families were the most likely to support school choice, and also displayed the largest growth in support from last year’s poll. About 67 percent of Hispanics said they support vouchers this year, up 18 percentage points from last year. This is consistent with a January 2018 poll conducted by the American Federation for Children, a national parental choice advocacy group, which found that 72 percent of Hispanics support school choice.
“Today’s survey results from Education Next confirm that families across the country increasingly want more options for their children’s K-12 education. The dominant forms of educational choice from charter schools, to tax credit scholarships and vouchers, all saw gains in support,” John Schilling, president of the American Federation for Children, said in a statement.
“We urge policymakers at the state and federal levels to take note of this strong support and to take action to give all families the freedom to choose the best K-12 education for their children,” he concluded.
Education Next’s poll words questions consistently over the years in order to observe trends. It surveys a nationally representative sample of 4,601 adults, with an oversampling of teachers, parents, African-Americans, and Hispanics.
Kate Hardiman is a contributor to Red Alert Politics. She is pursuing a master’s in education from Notre Dame University and teaches English and religion at a high school in Chicago.
