A new survey says most Americans are in favor of school choice programs—but don’t necessarily understand them.
After interviewing more than 1,000 U.S. citizens, EdChoice found that nearly half favored having charter schools in their districts, but another 30 percent had never even heard of them. Additionally, the public was twice as likely to support voucher programs as oppose them, but an estimated 41 percent of respondents were initially unfamiliar or unsure about school vouchers.
EdChoice asked survey participants the average amount of annual dollars spent per student in the public school system. The most popular answer was “I don’t know” followed by “$4,000 or less.” Without actual data, only 17 percent said they believed students received the right amount of funding, and more than 50 percent said per-pupil spending was too low. After hearing actual per-student spending was just under $11,000 in 2013, 38 percent still said spending was too low.
Since 1991, charter school attendance boomed from a handful of students to more than 3 million today. Charter schools are free to attend and usually funded by state education money.
While they maintain the same academic standards as public schools, charter programs aren’t encumbered by the same bureaucracy as the public school system.