Poll: Nationwide- Support For New Type Of School Choice (NAPSA)—Here’s somethingpar- ents, teachers and schoolchildren maybeinterested to learn: More than six in 10 Americans support giving all students a new form of school choice known as education savings accounts (ESAs), according to a new national poll by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and Braun Research, Inc. “ESAs are the new go-to program that allows dollars to follow children to the educationalsetting of their choice,” said Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation, the legacy foundation of Nobel economist Milton Friedman. “This poll shows Americans welcome a tool that will give parents and children lots of choice when it comes to providing them the best education possible. As families’ learning needs evolve, ESAs have become the most flexible tool to help parents choose the educational ingredients that work best for their children. This can be especially important if their assigned school isn’t serving them well. The 2015 Schooling in America Survey also found that Americans prefer school choice as the greatest accountability remedy when schools don’t perform up to standards. Forty-one percent said supplying families with a voucher or scholarship would be a useful intervention. More than a quarter believe converting a district to a charter school is a good step, 25 percent prefer replacing school personnel, and 18 percent think the schools should be closed. Further Findings *One out of six people rank education as the No. 1 issue facing America. Americansgive low ratings to the federal government’s performance in K-12 education. Very few Americans (16 per- Which school type do Americans say they would prefer their children attend? PRIVATE SCHOOL 41% PUBLIC SCHOOL 36% CHARTER SCHOOL HOME SCHOOL 12% 9% vs. actual enrollments: PRIVATE SCHOOL PUBLIC SCHOOL CHARTER SCHOOL HOME SCHOOL ff 83.8% 4% 2.8% BAe When schools must compete to keep the children they teach, experts on education say, everybody wins. cent) know how much we spend per pupil on K-12 education. In fact, nearly $10,700 is spent on each student in America’s public schools. *Most school parents give low grades to their assigned public schools. *The majority of people would prefer to send their kids to a private or charter school but less than 14 percent actually doso. About twice as many Americans support school vouchers as oppose them. Americans’ top two reasons for supporting vouchers are “access to schools having better academics” and “more freedom and flexibility for parents.” A majority of Americans think education savings accounts should be universal. *Most public school parents report their children spend 16 days or more in standardized testing—and they think that’s too much time. eAmericans are more than twice as likely to support a taxcredit scholarship program than they are to oppose one. Learn More To see the report, go to www. edchoice.org/research/2015-school ing-in-america-survey.
