Public, Parents & K-12 Education
KEY FINDINGS
Over 60% of parents feel “hopeful” about the future, and more than half feel “a sense of purpose,” “optimistic,” and “happy.” More than half of non-parents feel “hopeful,” and at least one-fourth feel “frustration,” pessimistic,” or “overwhelmed.”
When it comes to voting in federal and state elections, adults and school parents care mostly about economic issues. School parents place much higher importance on education issues than other adults.
The general public and school parents greatly underestimate per-student spending in public schools. The public and parents are much less likely to say their state’s per-student spending is “too low” when given a publicly reported statistic – by 16 point and 14 points, respectively.
Nearly 2 in 3 parents say their child’s school schedule aligns with their work schedule “always” or “often.” High school parents are the least likely to have aligned schedules with their children. About 3 in 4 parents prefer their child’s school time to start between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. Nearly half of school parents prefer their child’s school time to end between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm.
Overall support levels for choice-based policies remain high among school parents and the general public:
• Education savings accounts (ESAs) – 76% / 70%
• School vouchers – 69% / 61%
• Charter schools – 72% / 64%
• Open enrollment – 79% / 70%
Three in four school parents believe ESAs should be available to all families regardless of income or special needs. This is over 20-points higher than the percentage of parents who want to determine ESA availability based on financial need.
Large majorities of school parents and non-parents believe ESA funds should be used for educational materials like textbooks, tutoring, online classes, and technology. Sports-related expenses, entertainment tickets, and toys are the expenses least supported by parents and non-parents alike.
Private school parents are much more likely to say that they are “very satisfied” with their child’s schooling experiences than district school parents. Parents are consistently more likely to say they are “very satisfied” with private schools than public district schools. Strong satisfaction has risen among both types since last month.
Methodology
This poll was conducted between August 2-6, 2024 among a sample of 2,252 Adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 2.32 percentage points..
According to a 2024 national poll, Americans (including parents) underestimate the amount we spend on education.
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