Face the State

More than 60 Percent Polled Want Charter Schools, 40 Percent Want Online Options
Face the State Staff Report

A new non-partisan national poll indicates that public support for more educational options is mounting every year, with a growing majority of those polled also vocalizing a distrust of traditional public schools.

The poll, released by Gallup and Phi Delta Kappa, has annually released findings relating to opinions of America’s public education system for the last 39 years. This year, 1,005 adults from across the country were surveyed over a two week period in June. A copy of the survey is available here.

This year, the survey found that 60 percent of all polled favor public charter schools, with 63 percent of all public school parents polled indicating support. Both figures reflect double digit gains in support in just the last seven years, with 2000 figures indicating that 42 percent of those polled had supported charter schools that year, together with 40 percent of public school parents.

As Face the State reported earlier this year, Colorado’s Democrat leaders in the state legislature have organized against expanding school choice for parents.

In March 2007, Face the State revealed an email chain where House Education Chairman Mike Merrifield wrote to fellow Democrat Sue Windels, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, “there must be a special place in hell for these Privatizers, Chaerizers (sic), and Voucherizers! They deserve it!”

Public outcry forced Merrifield to step down from his chairmanship, although Face the State has obtained unverified reports that Merrifield will resume his chairmanship duties in January. Windels also came under scrutiny for not publicly condemning Merrifield's comments, with charter school leaders and parents calling for her resignation.

The Gallup poll also found support growing for virtual schools, which, according to the survey, increase "opportunities for students to earn high school credits without attending a regular school." Forty-one percent of all polled saythey support virtual schools, up from 30 percent just seven years ago. Forty-four percent of public school parents support the concept, up 9 percent from 2000, when 35 percent of parents indicated their support.

According to Gallup, positive impressions of charter schools and virtual education options far exceed that of public schools as a whole. When asked how schools across the nation are doing in educating students, just 16 percent of those surveyed give schools an "A" or "B". Twenty-two percent of public school parents give schools an A or B.

Local schools fared better, but still lagged behind charter schools. Less than half of those polled give the public schools in their community an "A" or a "B". Specifically, 9 percent said their schools earned an "A", and 36 percent gave their schools a "B". The remaining 55 percent give their schools a "C" or below. Public school parents have slightly higher satisfaction levels, with 20 percent awarding a grade of "A" to their schools, 36 percent awarding a "B", and 43 percent giving grades of "C" or below.