Americans strongly support school choice, back closing Education Department, poll finds

School choice continues growing in popularity with Americans, and support for closing the Department of Education rises significantly once people have all the facts, a new poll finds.

Research conducted for the nonprofit “yes. every kid. foundation.” found more than half of U.S. adults support education savings accounts, or ESAs, and tax credit scholarships, two of the main types of school choice programs, with less than a quarter of Americans opposing them.

The poll also found similar support for public-school open enrollment.

“While special interests continue to try and discredit education freedom in favor of the stagnant status quo, Americans recognize that education decisions should be made by those closest to students, not lawmakers and Washington, D.C.,” Scott Foster, who oversees education policy research and market analysis for the foundation, wrote in an article about the poll. 

“Americans also recognize that education freedom policies strengthen education throughout the country.” 

Matt Frendewey, the foundation’s vice president for strategy, said Americans are “united behind education freedom” and are hungry for change. 

“They want to give families more authority, more flexibility, and more options than the current system offers, and the data shows they are far ahead of the political debate,” he said. 

The annual poll, which included a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. adults, shows a three-year trend in favor of education freedom. More than 70% of respondents – including 77% of parents – said families should be able to customize their child’s education to meet their needs. 

“Americans are demanding a new direction in education, one that respects the needs of every child, shifts accountability to families, and expands opportunities to empower all children to succeed,” Frendewey said. 

The poll also found 76% of parents believe schools should be more accountable to parents, and 61% say schools will be more accountable to families once parents can easily take their child out of that school. 

Moreover, 54% of voters rated education an “extremely important” issue for the midterm congressional elections in 2026. 

Concerning the closure of the federal Education Department – a stated goal of the Trump administration – 56% of respondents said they supported it once they were told federal money would go directly to the states and that the department’s vital functions would transfer to other departments. 

“Once you explain how the plan to dismantle it would work, support shifts from, I think our original number was like 31% support, and it almost flips completely to 30% opposed, 56% support,” Frendewey said Monday on a call about the results. 

“The more folks understand that there’s a plan in place to do so in a responsible manner, I suspect that you’ll see much more American support for returning power to the states, and part of that is because it reinforces their underlying notion that they don’t think that the federal government should be involved in K-12 decisions.”