Support for school vouchers is waning, with a majority
of Americans now opposing the use of public funds to pay tuition at private
schools, according to a recent survey.
Support for school vouchers is waning, with a majority
of Americans now opposing the use of public funds to pay tuition at private
schools, according to a recent survey.
Americans believe the biggest problem facing the nations
public schools is inadequate funding, according to poll results released Aug.
21. Phi Delta Kappa, a professional education organization, conducted the survey
in conjunction with the Gallup Organization, a polling firm based in Princeton,
N.J.
Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said they oppose “allowing
parents to send their children to a private, or church-related school with the
government paying all or part of the tuition.” Meanwhile, 45 percent favor
school vouchers, according to the survey. Those figures are reversed from last
years survey, in which 51 percent supported and 47 percent opposed vouchers.
More than three-fourths (76 percent) said if private or church-related
schools accept funds from the government, they should be accountable to the
state in the same way as public schools.
Most respondents remain in favor of reforming the existing
school system rather than creating an alternative system. However, the percentage
in favor of reforming public schools slipped from 71 percent in 1999 to 59 percent
this year.
However, when asked to choose between “improving and strengthening
the existing public schools or providing vouchers for parents to use in selecting
and paying for private and/or church-related schools,” 75 percent of respondents
said they would rather improve public schools.
“The respondents to both questions this year make it clear
that a majority of the public expects improvement in student achievement to
come through the public schools,” Lowell Rose and Alec Gallup wrote in
a summary of the 32nd annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll.
When asked if “knowing that a candidate for national office supports vouchers
for parents to use to pay for private schools” would make them more or
less likely to vote for a candidate, 44 percent of respondents said it would
make them less likely to vote for the candidate. Forty-one percent indicated
it would make them more likely to vote for the candidate. (ABP)