New Poll Shows Parents (and Teachers) Want More from Public Education

(NAPSI)—Americans’ satisfaction with K−12 education reached a 15-year high this year, according to a Gallup poll, but the majority of people still think it’s on the wrong track. The 2019 Schooling in America Survey by EdChoice and Braun Research digs deeper to find out why that might be.

It found most parents say they are satisfied with their kids’ current schools:

• 79% of parents are satisfied with a private school

• 77% of parents are satisfied with a public charter school

• 76% of parents are satisfied with home schooling

• 67% of parents are satisfied with a public district school.

Although 82% of students today attend public district schools, 69% of parents and 53% of public district school teachers said they would prefer to send their own kids somewhere else. So, though parents generally say they are satisfied with their assigned district schools, their preferences (if money and transportation weren’t barriers) tell a different story.

That may be one reason support for school choice options, such as charter schools, school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships—remains strong. When families learn how education savings accounts (ESAs) can help them not just to afford private school but to customize an education for their kids—nearly everyone supports them.

• 85% of current school parents support ESAs

• 78% of current public school teachers support ESAs

• 77% of the general population supports ESAs.

The top most important reasons people support ESAs: access to a better academic environment and more freedom and flexibility for parents.

There’s little love for more standardized testing among parents and teachers. In fact, 71% of the general population, 72% of parents and 88% of teachers think how we currently test kids is “too much” or “about right.”

People don’t know what schooling costs—public or private—but most still think public schools need more money. The majority of Americans, including public school teachers, grossly underestimate how much public schools spend per student: $12,201 on average. At the same time, they tend to overestimate how much private school tuition costs: $10,676 on average.

Learn More

To learn more findings from this poll, visit EdChoice, a nonpartisan, nonproft organization that serves as the clearinghouse of information related to school choice research and policy in the United States, at www.edchoice.org.

 “Most Americans think K–12 education is on the wrong track. To help, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization EdChoice, serves as a clearinghouse of information related to school choice policies. http://bit.ly/38wHpUV”