4 EDCAL November 20, 2017
SURVEYS
Continued from page 2
be so. Support fell by 13 percentage points
among Republicans (from 60 percent to 47
percent) and by 11 percentage points among
Democrats (from 45 percent to 34 percent),
leaving the partisan gap on the issue largely
unchanged.
As expected, the effects of informing
respondents that “President Donald Trump
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has expressed support for charter schools”
differ across party lines, lifting Republican
support by 15 percentage points, while
reducing it by 3 percentage points among
Democrats. But the net effect of hearing
the president’s position is to increase over-
all support by 6 percentage points, to 45
percent.
School choice policies
The public’s opposition to other school
choice policies has lessened. A year ago,
29 percent of the public opposed tax credit
funded scholarships that allow low-income
students to attend private schools – an
approach that is now used by 16 states and
rumored to be under consideration by the
Trump administration. That percentage has
fallen to just 24 percent. Tax credits con-
tinue to command the highest level of sup-
port among all choice proposals. Fifty-five
percent of respondents favor the idea, a level
not noticeably different from last year.
Opposition to vouchers has also declined.
When asked whether they favor universal
vouchers – giving vouchers to “all families”
in order to give parents a “wider choice”
– only 37 percent of the general public
expressed opposition, down from 44 percent
a year ago. Opposition to vouchers for low-
income parents to give them “wider choice”
also fell, from 48 percent to 41 percent,
while the level of support ticked upward
from 37 percent to 43 percent.
Half the sample was instead asked a
question about vouchers that did not men-
tion wider choice for families but referred to
the use of “government funds” for private-
school tuition. This version of the voucher
question consistently draws lower levels of
support.
When inquiring about vouchers for low-
income families, however, support rises from
31 percent in 2016 to 37 percent, while
opposition drops from 55 percent to 49
percent. The “government funds” question
fetches very low levels of support when
respondents are asked about vouchers for
all families. Only 28 percent like the idea,
while 56 percent oppose it, about the same
as a year ago.
Access full results of the survey at https://
goo.gl/8NySb9.
Myth busting
Another report – “Busting the Myth
of ‘one-size-fits all’ Public Education” –
measured some different metrics, but is
pertinent to the rating of public schools.
The report from the Center for Public
Education (CPE) found public schools
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offer a better range of programs and school
selection than schools of choice. CPE is
the research tank for the National School
Boards Association.
“Extraordinary activities and approaches
occur in public schools every day because
school boards and school leaders continually
devise and employ innovative approaches
to help students succeed,” said Thomas
Gentzel, executive director and CEO of
the NSBA. “The constant effort to enhance
public education has produced an amazing
array of learning opportunities spanning
course selection, learning styles, and choice
of school.”
CPE found that the broadest range
of educational and extracurricular options
exists in public schools. The report notes
that while larger public high schools offer
more program choices than smaller ones,
even small public schools do better com-
pared to private high schools in programs
for which data is available: gifted or honors
classes, Advanced Placement, and distance
learning. High-poverty public schools also
outpace private schools overall on high-level
course offerings.
Other findings
• Public schools are more likely to offer
afterschool child care and tutoring or
enrichment activities.
• School counselors play a key role in
students’ learning and care: 80 percent of
public schools have at least one part-time
counselor, compared to only 32 percent of
private schools.
• The vast majority of public high schools
offer access to hands-on college experience,
with almost all (98 percent) offering career
preparation.
• The majority of public school students
have the option to transfer to schools within
their districts or neighboring districts.
“The neighborhood public school
remains the school of first choice for the
large majority of families, as school districts
offer a growing range of options in their
efforts to better serve the different interests
and needs of individual students,” said Patte
Barth, director of the CPE. “This includes
the nearly two-thirds of school-aged chil-
dren who have access to public schools
outside their attendance zone. As this report
shows, curricular and extracurricular options
abound inside the public school building,
too, that are designed to engage students in
learning.”
Read the report at http://www.centerfor-
publiceducation.org/mythbusting.