Survey reveals continued rising support for private schools, school choice

Parents who have kids in private schools have more satisfaction in their kids’ education, while support for school choice increases with understanding of it, a new survey finds.

The survey by EdChoice and Morning Consult shows 65% of private school parents are very satisfied with their children’s education, as opposed to 46% of district school parents. Moreover, over 90% of private school parents are at least somewhat satisfied with their children’s schooling experience.

In addition, support for school choice policies increased significantly when participants were given a brief description of the programs, compared to when they weren’t.

Almost 70% support Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) when given a brief description. Notably, only 45% showed support when they weren’t given a description of the program.

Well over half, 60%, supported school vouchers when their purpose is explained; when it isn’t, only 44% support them.  

When given a description, 64% of those surveyed strongly or somewhat supported charter schools. When a definition wasn’t supplied, 51% showed support.  

Nearly 70% of participants supported open enrollment when given an explanation. Only 51% supported it without the description.  

Parents of schoolchildren were the most supportive group for each of the school choice programs: When parents’ responses are singled out, each school choice program earns over a 70% approval rate.  

The survey polled 2,325 adults from June 13-15. Of those, 1,358 were parents of children currently in K-12.