A new national poll finds growing support for school “choice” and also for increased spending on public schools.
The annual poll by the Harvard-affiliated Education Next shows support for charter schools is up 5 percentage points over last year, in an about face by the public. The 2017 results showed declining support for these schools.
The new embrace of charters — public schools that are independently-operated but publicly-funded and typically enroll by lottery — was concentrated among Republicans. This has resulted in a growing partisan divide on charters, with 57 percent of GOP voters in favor compared with 36 percent of Democrats.
At this point, charters enjoy only plurality support given the number of undecided respondents (44 percent in favor versus 35 percent opposed).
The poll also shows support of government funding for private school tuition, commonly known as "vouchers," grew by 9 percentage points while support for teacher pay increases was up 13 percentage points and support for school spending increases was up 7 percentage points.
VIDEO: Previous charter school coverage
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