Report solidifies parents as new swing voters

National Association of Public Charter Schools: four in five parents (83%) agree that education has become a more important political issue to them

A new report analyzing a poll on education from the National Association of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) solidifies parents as a strong new category of swing voters.

The report is titled “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education.”

According to the report, “More than four in five parents (83%) agree that education has become a more important political issue to them than it was in the past,” and a whopping 82% are “willing to vote outside their party on the issue of education.”

Image from the NAPCS report “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education.”

The report looks at a Harris Poll survey conducted of 5,002 parents or legal guardians of a child or children enrolled in grades PreKindergarten through 12th grade at the end of the 2021-22 school year. The survey was conducted between May 19th and May 31st, 2022.

"This report tells us parents want and deserve options for their children's schooling, and they're willing to vote across party lines to get it,” Lindalyn Kakadelis, Executive Director of the NC Coalition for Charter Schools, said in a statement, “Public charter schools remain wildly popular as a free, public alternative to traditional zoned schools that are open to everybody."

Executive Director of the NC Association for Public Charter Schools Rhonda Dillingham also issued a statement on the report.

“In a time when Americans are divided on many issues, this report confirms the one thing we can all agree on: parents deserve a voice in their children’s education,” Dillingham said. “What’s more, they are willing to use their influence at the ballot box to make their voices heard, so much so that they are willing to vote outside their party when it comes to issues that affect their children.”

Other key takeaways from the NAPCS release include:

• Parents value choice—93% agree one size doesn’t fit all in education. More than one in four parents are school-type switchers and 86% of all parents we surveyed want options for their children other than the district school they are zoned for or assigned to attend. 

• Charter schools are a popular choice among parents who switched the type of school their children attend.

• Safety is a number one priority.  

• Parents who switched school types are happy with the choices they made. Eighty-nine percent of parents whose children made a switch report that they or their child experienced a positive change as a result. 

• Support for charter schools is high. Three in four parents want more public charter school offerings in their area. 

Looking deeper into the report, the pandemic appears to have been a wake-up call.

A staggering 84% of parents agreed they learned more about how their child was being educated during the pandemic and 78% said they were now more engaged because of what they saw.

Image from the NAPCS report “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education.”

According to the report, an overwhelming percentage of the parent respondents want more choices and an even higher percentage are in favor of expanding the number of slots in existing public charter schools. Additionally, 74% agreed that if a public charter school were available in their area, they would send their child there.

Image from the NAPCS report “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education.”

The conclusion includes a damning look at how unsatisfied parents are with the quality of public school education.

“Currently, only 35% of parents are highly satisfied with the quality of their children’s education in public district schools, compared to 74% whose children who attend private schools and 72% who are homeschooling their children,” NAPCS’ conclusion states.

The level of dissatisfaction is higher for Black and Hispanic parents. The report breaks that down accordingly:

• 71% of Black parents strongly agree that one size does not fit all when it comes to educating children. 

• 70% of Black parents and 63% of Hispanic parents strongly agree that parents should be able to have a choice in where their children go to school. 

• 60% of Black parents and 54% of Hispanic parents strongly agree that they think having more than one type of public school option is a good thing. 

• 53% of Black parents and 40% of Hispanic parents strongly agree that they want options for their children other than the district school they are zoned for or assigned.   

More To The Story

Around the same time the report was announced, Democrats in North Carolina held a press conference on the alleged teacher shortage in the state and on principal pay issues resulting from recent state budget updates, which are already being addressed by N.C. State Superintendent Catherine Truitt.

During that press event, Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake) attacked Republicans over the two issues. He then conflated that attack by blaming school choice options for the teacher shortage and called school choice “not practical given the current state of education in North Carolina,” according to a report by Carolina Journal.

“The position puts Democrats at odds with a solid majority of North Carolinians, who support the concept of school choice according to polling this spring that found 72% of voters support school choice, including 68% of Democrats,” the Carolina Journal reported.

A related poll taking the national temper on education issued conducted by Phi Delta Kappa International (PDK) revealed just over half of adults (54%) in the U.S. would give their public schools an "A" or "B" grade.

While that 54% was up ten points from 2019 when the question was last asked and is the “highest percentage numerically in PDK polls since 1974,” the poll says that the "previous high was 53% in 2013” and the long-term average was just 44%.

PDK admits that the “boost in confidence in public schools" occurred among non-parents only.” Among parents with kids in school, the percentage who would give their child’s school an A or B grade dropped to 68%, down from 75% in 2019.

The public overall trusts teachers, but had trust issues when specific courses or issues are brought up.

Quoting some other key findings from the PDK poll:

• 23% of all adults and 30% of public school parents rated the nation’s schools with A’s and B’s

• 63% of adults express trust and confidence in the public school teachers in their community, increasing to 72% of public school parents. That trust is somewhat muted, however: Just 16% overall say they have a great deal of trust and confidence in their community’s teachers; 47% express “a good amount” of trust.

• On specific subject areas, moreover, trust in teachers subsides, ranging from 56% for the teaching of U.S. history in general to 38% for teaching issues related to gender and sexuality.

• Sixty-four percent of liberals trust teachers to teach U.S. history; that drops to 50% among conservatives.

• 52% of liberals trust teachers on how the history of racism affects America today; just 39% of conservatives feel the same, with moderates in between.

• On teaching issues related to gender and sexuality, trust runs from 45% among liberals to 32% among conservatives. Conservatives and moderates alike are more skeptical than liberals of teachers on the topics of civics and students’ social and emotional growth.

• Notably, just 33% of Black adults trust teachers on handling racial and ethnic diversity, compared with about half of others.