CER Analysis
Still On Thin Ice?
A look at recent polls on school choice and charter schools
Last November, a national survey
found that most Americans were unfamiliar with school choice and charter school
programs. That survey, conducted by the Public Agenda
Foundation, found that
"It isn't that people are undecided as much as that they are unaware. The
vast majority of the public knows very little about school vouchers, charter
schools or for-profit schools.... Despite their lack of knowledge and mixed
reactions to vouchers and charter schools, people are hardly endorsing the
status quo. They have serious concerns about the public schools, even those in
their own communities.... Public frustration runs high, especially when it comes
to school management and the slowness of reform. At this time, the public —
more pragmatic than ideological in this domain — seems to be keeping its
options open." (For more, see CER's analysis On Thin Ice: How
Advocates and Opponents Could Misread the Public's Views on Vouchers and
Charter Schools, which includes a link to the Public Agenda report.)
With the annual poll season about
to begin amidst the Back-to-School and election flurry, the Center for Education
Reform has reviewed major polls both nationally and in the states about these
issues. The conclusions are for you to draw, but the important fact to remember
about these polls and those that are about to be unleashed on the American
people is that what it appears that the public believes is often seriously affected by what is
asked. Words and combinations of words have different means to different
individuals.
Regarding the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll
First, CER reviews perhaps the
most publicized of the polls, Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on the public's
attitude toward education. The finding: the
public is highly dissatisfied with the state of schools, although that is
not how PDK is presenting the results. (For more, see ABCNews.com's
coverage of the PDK poll.)
CER's National Survey
of Americans’ Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform provides
better insight into just how the public perceives its schools and the options
for their improvement.
Year after year, the PDK rhetoric
tells one story while the numbers tell something quite different. PDK asserts
that Americans don't support choice -- but their
own numbers show otherwise.
CER sorts it all
out, year by year (2001, 2000, 1999, 1998,
1997, 1996)
and offers a few other tidbits on PDK's activities, like their conference
offerings against market-oriented reforms and their rebuttal
of CER's first National Survey.
On School Choice
Education vouchers involve giving
parents the choice to send their children to private or parochial schools by
providing them with a stipend equivalent to the average of what the state pays
to educate a student in a public school. Voucher, or 'opportunity scholarship,'
programs are currently in place in Milwaukee, Cleveland and Florida. Because it
is such a controversial topic in education today, more polls can be found on
vouchers than most other reform issues. Here is a sampling of survey outcomes
beginning in 1996.
1996
- 59 percent of the general population favors a system of giving parents
government-funded vouchers to pay for tuition at the public, private or
religious school of their choice. (1996, US News & World Report)
1997
- 82 percent of the general population supports providing parents with the
option of sending their children to the school of their choice - either
public, private or parochial - rather than the school to which they are
assigned. (1997 National Survey of
Americans' Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform, The Center for
Education Reform/International Communications Research)
- In Utah, 79 percent favored school choice. (1997, Utah Coalition for
Freedom in Education/R.T. Nielson)
- 61 percent of the general population favor giving parents education tax
credits or vouchers to pay for their children's tuition at the public or
private school of their choice. (1997 National Monitor Survey, American
Viewpoint, Inc.)
- In Minnesota, 72 percent favored giving tax credits and deductions to help
finance private education. (April 1997, Star Tribune/Minnesota Poll)
1998
- 56 percent of parents favor a proposal that would allow students to attend
any public, private, or religious school they choose with the government
paying for part or all of the tuition. (1998 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll)
- In Wisconsin, 60 percent favored vouchers (Dec 1998, University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee Institute for Survey and Policy Research/Wisconsin Poll)
- In Arizona, 65 percent of parents favored vouchers (1998 Public Opinion on
Educational Issues in Arizona, The Goldwater Institute/Center for
Market-Based Education)
1999
- 92 percent of parents agree that they should have the right to choose the
school they want their child to attend. (79 percent strongly agreed; 13
percent somewhat agreed). (1999, On Thin Ice:
How Advocates and Opponents Could Misread the Public's Views on Vouchers and
Charter Schools, Public Agenda)
- 53 percent of the general population and 60 percent of the black
population support a voucher system where parents would get money from the
government to send their children to the public, private or parochial school
of their choice. (1999 National Opinion Poll - Education, Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies/Smith-Richardson Foundation)
- 57 percent of the general population favor the idea of parents being given
a voucher or certificate from the government to pay for all or part of
tuition if they decide to send their children to a private or parochial
school (29 percent strongly favored; 28 percent somewhat favored). (1999, On
Thin Ice, Public Agenda)
- 70 percent of the general population would seriously consider or
definitely use a voucher to send their child to a private school (23 percent
would definitely, 47 percent would seriously consider). (1999, On
Thin Ice, Public Agenda)
For More School Choice Surveys and Research, See Also:
- School Choice Facts: School
Choice is Popular, compiled by the Institute for Justice looks at
national and state polls from Florida to New York to Wisconsin, as well as
those targeting specific sectors of the population, that measure public
attitude toward school choice.
- THE TRUTH ABOUT EDUCATION VOUCHERS:
NEW INFORMATION ON SCHOOL CHOICE: The school choice
debate has generated an array of competing claims and information, and many seeking objective information have concluded that the evidence is
"inconclusive," "mixed," or "contradictory." But
new information shows that there is an
emerging consensus among scholars that school choice
experiments have had largely positive effects.
- School Choice Research Archives
On Charter Schools
Charter schools are public schools
started by teachers, parents and/or community groups that exist free from
government regulations except for issues of health, safety and discrimination.
The first charter school was born in 1993 and, in the seven years since,
approximately 1,700 more have been started in many states across the country.
Below are results of surveys on charter schools from 1997 to 1999.
1997
- 55 percent of the general population favors charter schools, which are
explained as public schools which are started by either teachers, parents
and/or community groups, are freed from regulations except health, safety
and discrimination, and are open to parents by choice. (1997
National Survey of Americans' Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform,
The Center for Education Reform/International Communications Research)
- In New York , 64.5 percent favored creating charter schools (1997, Empire
Foundation/Zogby International)
1999
- 62 percent of the general population and 65 percent of parents favor the
charter school program that exempts some public schools from certain state
regulations and permits them to function independently from the local school
district as long as they meet state standards for student achievement.
(1999, NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Educational Survey)
- 68 percent of the general population favors the idea of charter schools,
which are explained as public schools that have a lot more control over
their own budget, staff and curriculum, and are free from many existing
regulations (35 percent strongly favor; 33 percent somewhat favor) (1999, On
Thin Ice, Public Agenda)
- In Michigan, 73 percent favored charter schools. (November 24, 1999,
Detroit News CyberSurvey)
- 55 percent of the general population, 65 percent of Generation X'ers and
67 percent of 'wired workers' would consider sending their child to a
charter school. (1999, Penn, Schoen and Berland)
For More Charter School Surveys and Research, See Also:
Conclusion
As the numbers show, Americans are
asking for school reform. The popularity of alternatives to traditional public
schools only increases as time goes on, proving reform to be more than a phase
or a short-lived phenomenon. With the American educational system deteriorating
daily, parents and concerned citizens are finally letting their voices be heard.
Those voices are calling for choice.
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