DFER Poll Underscores Parent Demand for Public School Options

National Battle Over Education Provides Opportunities, Risks for Democrats

NEW YORK, N.Y. (May 8, 2023) — A new poll released today by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) shows overwhelming support among voters—particularly Black and Latino voters and parents—for increased options in our public school system. Consistent with prior research, the polling indicates that Democrats who do not propose solutions beyond funding alone, risk alienating key elements of their base, and exacerbating a growing issue of trust on education policy.

The poll found that more than 70% of Black and Latino voters, Democrats, and voters who are parents held favorable views of public charter schools—with an overwhelming majority of Black (67%) and Hispanic (69%) parents seeing new ideas and public school choice options, coupled with more funding, as integral components to improving our nation’s education system. 

“At a time when so much is at stake politically, Democrats cannot afford to ignore voters of color and parents who so ardently want more school choice options,” said DFER CEO Jorge Elorza. “Voters of color prefer public options, but if Democrats do not wholeheartedly embrace public school choice as a party, we not only lose an opportunity to better serve students, but we risk losing Black and Latino voters who do not feel heard.” 

In encouraging news for Democrats, proposals to invest in public school options—which reflect the types of public school choice supported by many Democrats—outperform Republican proposals for disinvestment in our public education system 2:1 among Black voters. Notably, 67% of Black voters and 57% of Latino voters also said they preferred public school choices compared to private voucher programs.

“For the past 30 years, public charter schools have delivered exceptional results educating Black, Latino, and low-income kids throughout the country and they’ve shown that a great public school education is not reserved for only the affluent,” added Elorza. “Democratic mayors, governors, and school board members who are accountable to families have long supported public school choice options. It’s time for the rest of the Party to join us.”

The poll also found that:

  • 77% of parents viewed public charters favorably— including 80% of Black parents and 71% of Latino parents. 
  • Among Democrats, 73% said they viewed public charter schools favorably, preferring public options to private vouchers by a 40-percentage-point margin. Independent voters preferred public options to private vouchers by a 28-percentage-point margin. 
  • More than half of voters (56%) are also concerned by Republicans’ prioritization of censorship and banning books, rather than teaching students to read books.

This is the first poll of DFER’s new quarterly polling project, DFER EdTrends. The nationally representative poll was conducted by Emerson College Polling between April 17-19, 2023, and surveyed United States voters. Data was collected by contacting cell phones via SMS-to-web, email via a consumer list of emails, and an online panel. The sample size is n=1,000 with a credibility interval of +/- 3%. 

You can view the poll results here. Additional crosstabs available upon request.

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About Democrats for Education Reform 

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a national political organization that supports elected Democrats and candidates for office who seek to expand policies and practices that increase educational equity for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. It is a partner organization of Education Reform Now Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that supports DFER’s legislative and policy advocacy work. www.dfer.org.

New Poll: NYC Democrats and Voters of Color Hold Favorable Views of Public Charters and Support Cap Raise

CONTACT: Victoria Fosdal, victoria@dfer.org

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Jan. 29, 2023) — A new poll released by Democrats for Education Reform New York (DFER NY) conducted by Morning Consult found New York City Democratic voters have a favorable view of public charter schools and strongly support raising the arbitrary cap on the number of public charters in the state by a wide margin. The poll found New Yorkers have a favorable view of charter schools by a 19-percentage point margin (46% favorable to 27% unfavorable) with all registered voters and by an even wider broader support among New Yorkers identifying as Democrats (49%-25%).

The results are comparable when asked about raising the charter cap. When asked:

“Do you support or oppose New York state increasing the cap on the number of public charter schools allowed to open in New York City?,”  

  • 51% of Democratic respondents support raising the cap, compared to 27% opposing it
  • That’s a 24 point margin.
  • 53%, a majority of Hispanic New Yorkers (+27) and 48% of Black New Yorkers also support a cap raise (+25) 
  • 64% of respondents who identify as Parents (+41) support a cap raise, as well.

Support for public charter schools in the poll continued to grow among Democratic voters (342 of the 600 voters) surveyed as they received more details and information about charters.

  • After messaging, 59% of Democratic voters had a favorable impression of public charter schools (+10 since initially asking), to 58% for Hispanic voters, 61% for Black voters and 70% for Parents.
  • After messaging, both positive and negative about charters. Support, among Democrats, for raising the cap increased to 56% (+5 from the initial ask), to 56% for Hispanic voters, and 61% for Black voters.
  • After messaging, both positive and negative about charters. Support, among Parents, for raising the cap increased to 68% (+4 from the initial ask)

“New Yorkers always want more choices, and this poll shows that includes more high quality choices in the public school system. For too long, families in some of the poorest communities have been denied the opportunity to select the best school for their families. Public charter schools ensure every family has high-quality options, and we look forward to working with leaders in Albany to lift the cap on public charters,” said DFER NY Executive Director Jacquelyn Martell.

“For far too many families in Brooklyn, they lack a quality public school to send their children. These results prove more New Yorkers want more choices and that includes public charter schools. We need to raise the cap to empower New York families,” said Brooklyn Assemblymember Brian Cunningham.

“The results from this poll mirror what I am hearing from the parents and families in my district: they want more choices and more high-quality public schools. That’s why I support having conversations on how we can bridge the gap and provide our students with a competitive education,” said Bronx Assemblymember George Alvarez.

You can view the full poll here. Crosstabs are available upon request.

Methodology 

This poll was conducted by Morning Consult between January 23-January 24, 2023, among a sample of 600 New York City Voters, 342 of whom identified as Democrats. The interviews were conducted online and weighted to gender, age, race, and education. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/-4% percentage points. The margin of error for Democrats is +/-5% percentage points.

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Democratic Guide to Public Charter Schools, 3rd Edition

Public charter schools have a long history of bipartisan support and that includes, from their very beginnings, support from key Democrats and progressives. The relationship between Democrats and public charter schools, however, is currently a complicated one.

On one hand,

  • Democratic voters, especially voters of color, continue to rate public charter schools favorably in most major polls.
  • Moreover, public charter schools are concentrated in communities represented, by and large, by Democrats at all levels of government and show their most dramatic positive results for students of color and those from low-income families, constituencies for whom Democrats have historically claimed to be champions.

On the other hand,

  • In recent years we’ve seen some Democratic leaders move to a more anti-charter stance. During the 2020 Democratic Presidential primary, Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) both called for policies that would end federal support for new public charter schools.
  • And in blue states from coast to coast, we’ve seen Democratic governors and state legislatures slow or freeze charter school expansion.

If Democratic lawmakers want to be the champions of public education excellence and equity, they need to do some serious soul searching on how they position themselves on public charter schools.

Charter schools, as we discuss in this guide, aren’t all created equal, and some models are better than others, so not all criticisms should be summarily dismissed. But the idea that charter schools are anathema to the idea of public education and that they should be defunded or unconditionally curtailed is misguided and misinformed.

To the contrary, public charter schools continue to give millions of students access to a public school other than the one to which they would have been assigned. Millions more students are on charter school waiting lists.

Public school choice—including, in addition to public charter schools, magnet schools and career academies—gives parents the opportunity to choose a school within the public system that they feel provides the best education experience for their child.

In this 3rd edition of the Democratic Guide to Public Charters School, we:

  • Set the record straight on public charter school facts.
  • Trace the history of support for public charter schools by Democrats and progressives.
  • Present public opinion data showing strong support for public charter schools from key Democratic constituencies.
  • Review data showing high concentrations of public charter schools and students in Democratic strongholds.
  • Analyze research on public charter school performance in advancing student achievement.
  • Review federal and state policies key for sustaining, improving, and expanding public charter schools.

Read the full guide here.

A Democratic Guide to Public Charter Schools: Support from Democratic Leadership

In Part 2 of the 2nd Edition of our Democratic Guide to Public Charter Schools, we highlight how key Democratic leaders, past and present, at all levels of government, have been instrumental in creating, funding, and advocating for public charter schools. The list includes former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, leading Congressional Democrats such as Senators Patty Murray and Cory Booker, and Governors like Andrew Cuomo and Jared Polis.

Of particular note: Part 2 includes an exclusive DFER analysis of grants awarded under a program created by President Obama to fund the replication and expansion of high-quality schools run by Charter Management Organizations. In less than a decade, this program has provided funding to support nearly 1,000 new public charter schools and more than 500,000 additional seats in high-performing charter networks across the country.

Stay tuned as additional chapters from our DGPCS continue to be released throughout the week.

Also see: Part 1, Origins and Public Opinion Research. 

Hill Briefing: Charter Facility Needs 2/26/18

Save The Date!

  • Did you know that public charter schools serve more than 3 million students nationwide, but recent survey data showed that parents of as many as 5.5 million students would enroll them in a charter school if location and capacity were not an issue?
  • Did you know that the inability to finance the acquisition, renovation and expansion of school space is one of the top impediments to the ability to meet parent demand?
  • Did you know that public charter schools do not have access to the same facilities financing mechanisms as do district schools?
  • Did you know that, unlike district schools, public charter schools must pay for school facilities’ costs out of their operating budgets?

Learn more at this Capitol Hill briefing on Monday, February 26th:

The Growing Demand: How Do We Meet Charter Schools’ Facility Needs

When: Monday, February 26 at 2:00 PM

Where: 122 Cannon House Office Building

Come and join the discussion with charter school leaders and school facility experts as they address the greatest obstacle to continued charter school growth. Learn about potential solutions in federal tax policies, investment incentives to states, and a potential federal infrastructure proposal.

Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to Ron Rice at ron@publiccharters.org.

DC Students and DC TAG Lack Meaningful College Options

By Mary Nguyen Barry

Students and families in Washington, D.C. are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As in many cities, DC students face a number of education realities specific to an urban public school environment: segregated schools, inequitable facilities, and inequitable school resources.

But unlike most students who successfully navigate the system to high school graduation, students in Washington, D.C. face a challenge unique to the nation’s capital: they have essentially zero “in-state” public college options. All four-year college options are effectively private.

The lack of meaningful in-state public college options is one of the biggest policy issues facing D.C. high school students, said Jessica Cunningham, the principal at KIPP DC College Preparatory in Northeast.

Now technically, students do have options. They can either attend the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) or they can attend a public college out of state and receive a discount provided by the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DC TAG).

But let’s be real.  Only 6 percent of students graduate from UDC within four years. And the discount provided by DC TAG – a program designed to give D.C. students in-state rates at colleges outside the District – is no longer achieving its goal.

Congress created the DC TAG program in 1999 to expand college choices for D.C. residents.  Recognizing the unique challenges faced by the lack of D.C. statehood, Congress provided annual grants of up to $10,000 to cover the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition at public four-year colleges and universities nationwide (and up to $2,500 per year for public community colleges).

dc tag license

Presumably when the law was originally passed, $10,000 was more than enough to cover the in-state vs. out-of-state difference. But as states have cut financial support of their public colleges and universities in recent years, colleges have jacked up both their in-state and even more so out-of-state tuition rates to compensate. The impact on D.C. students is that their $10,000 voucher is no longer enough to meet the difference in tuition prices. So just as Pell Grants have failed to keep pace with rising college prices, so have the DC TAG grants. And ergo, DC students have another barrier – specifically tied to where they live – to college affordability and completion.

What should one do? A few options are possible:

  1. Congress could raise the maximum DC TAG amount above $10,000 so the program fulfills its initial goal of providing DC students in-state tuition;
  1. Congress could raise the maximum DC TAG amount and implement additional minimum college quality provisions to fulfill the broader goal of providing DC students with a meaningful in-state public school option; or
  1. Congress could implement our Tough Love proposal whereby nonprofit (public and private) college dropout factories like UDC receive extra financial support and assistance to improve graduation rates. But if improvement doesn’t occur after a specified period of time, they lose access to federal financial aid and tax benefits.

Option 1 adheres most closely to the original goal for DC TAG. However, it functions as an inefficient stop-gap measure if college tuition continues to rise.  In that sense, it would operate similar to the Pell Grant program that continually fails to keep up with rising college prices. It also misses an opportunity to attack the broader problem that Cunningham noted – the lack of meaningful public options for DC residents.

Option 2 would help boost DC TAG’s purchasing power but also raise the bar on what makes a college eligible for DC TAG funds.  Currently all public colleges across the United States are eligible to receive DC TAG funds (a smaller $2,500/year grant to private HBCUs and private colleges in the DC Metropolitan area is also available). But that doesn’t have to be the case. DC TAG could implement minimum institutional eligibility requirements – say only public colleges that fall in the top 95 percent of colleges nationwide in graduation rates or student loan repayment rates may receive DC TAG dollars.

Option 3, in combination with Option 2, would further heighten resources and consequences for low-performing colleges.  Let’s help UDC and other college dropout factories improve to become a meaningful option for students instead of a provider most likely to leave them in a worse financial position than had they not enrolled in the first place.

DC residents should not tolerate the fact that the only honest-to-goodness four-year public college within city boundaries has a 6 percent four-year graduation rate.

A meaningful public college option for DC residents and others requires improving the city’s current university and expanding the application of that definition nationwide.

Is the city and Congress, including Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), tough enough to do it? Or will they continue to shortchange deserving DC students from meaningful college opportunities?

Where Does Bernie Sanders Stand on Public Charter Schools?

By Marianne Lombardo

Where does Bernie Sanders stand on public charter schools? While he’s typically a straight-talker, it’s a little hard to figure out.

On Tuesday’s Tom Joyner Morning Show, Roland Martin asked Sanders:

What do you think about charters and vouchers, which Black parents are extremely supportive of – almost 80%?”

Sanders responded: “If they are private institutions, I do not support, because they are undermining public education in general. If they are in the context of public education, I do support it.”

Martin: “So you support public charter schools?”

Sanders: “Yes. But not private.

Was Sanders saying that he thinks some charter schools are not public schools (for the record, all charter schools are public schools)? Or was Sanders making it a point to distinguish between public and private because Martin’s question also included vouchers?

Sanders’ historical record is not much help answering those questions. He’s vacillated between strong support for public charter schools and what seems like opposition to charter schools based on a mischaracterization of their being private, not public schools.

1998: Long before he ran for President, Bernie not only voted for the Charter School Expansion Act of 1998; he also entered pro-charter testimony in the Congressional Record from a ninth-grade student who said:

While I am fortunate that my family has been able to send me to private school, it should not be only the economically elite who have access to alternative education. I think a solution to this problem is federal legislation encouraging states to institute charter schools. Options would then open up for disadvantaged students. Because charter schools are still technically public schools, any student could go to the school of their choice. Students, like adults, need options; no school fits all students, just like no company is right for all workers.

Note that even this 9th grade student knew the distinction between a private school and a public charter school.

After he launched his Presidential bid, however, Sanders seems to have flipped.

October 2015: Speaking before the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Sanders seemed to accept the notion that charter schools are private schools. When asked:

You mentioned the need to stop privatizing public education. One way to stop that is to make sure that there is a very strong, very reasonable cap on charter schools. I come from a district … where students are leaving in droves to attend these sort-of “miracle” buildings that are the charter schools – and as a result we’re losing valuable funding in already strained budgets. I would hope that in your campaign that you would continue to strive to keep public funding in public schools.”

Bernie responded: “absolutely.

January 2016: At a Town Hall in Newmarket, New Hampshire, Sanders again seemed to imply that he considered charter schools as private schools stating:

I’m not in favor of privately run charter schools. If we are going to have a strong democracy and be competitive globally, we need the best-educated people in the world. I believe in public education.

Does Sanders, unlike the 9th grader whose testimony Sanders inserted in the Congressional Record, not know that charter schools are public schools? Is he misinformed about the fact that all public charter schools are created under public law as part of the public education system, a system that has all kinds of schools e.g., open enrollment, selective admission, magnet, special needs? Is he not aware that public charter schools, unlike private schools, have to accept all students, can’t charge tuition, and are non-sectarian?

Or is Sanders trying to imply that he only considers public charter schools authorized by local districts as part of the public education system, but not those authorized by the state or other agencies empowered by state government to do so? The problem with this is that it would exclude those public charter schools run by non-profit management companies, such as KIPP, YES Prep, GreenDot, and Democracy Prep. Moreover where, in Sanders’ view of the world, would public charter schools not overseen by districts but run by independent groups of teachers, parents and/or community members – the largest group of charter schools – fall?

Bernie’s got a great reputation for speaking plainly. It would be really helpful if he tasked his staff with giving him all the facts about public charter schools and provided clarity to voters on where he stands.

RELEASE: Poll Shows DC Parents Want Expanded High-Quality Educational Options

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Poll of DC Voters Shows Parents Want to Expand High-Quality Educational Options in DC

Poll finds support for expansion of high-performing schools in vacant buildings and cross-sector partnerships to turn around under-performing schools

Washington, DC – Today, Education Reform Now’s DC Chapter released the results of a survey of registered voters in Washington, DC, regarding attitudes toward public education in the city. Conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group, the survey found that while voters see improvement in the quality of public schools, they also view that progress as lopsided, with more significant progress in higher-income neighborhoods. Voters believe city leaders must act now to address these inequities to ensure fair access to educational opportunity for all public school students. They overwhelmingly support allowing successful schools, both district and charter, to expand in vacant school buildings in order to reduce waiting lists at the most popular schools and expand the number of high-quality seats available in the city.

“These poll results could not be more clear. Eight years after the reforms enacted under mayoral control, DC voters feel that we have made significant improvements to the quality of the city’s schools. We’re going in the right direction — but there is still more work to be done, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, to ensure fair access to quality schools. Voters also know that if we are going to keep young families in the District, we have to make sure children in every neighborhood can attend a high-quality public school. We must accelerate what’s working to improve the quality of traditional schools, and we need to reduce waiting lists and crowded classrooms by opening more top-performing public charter schools,” said Catharine Bellinger, Director of Education Reform Now’s DC Chapter.

“The 12 vacant former school buildings in DC – which represent a total of nearly 1.4 million square feet–provide the perfect opportunity to expand high-quality options for our families. Rather than letting taxpayers foot the bill while unused buildings become increasingly dilapidated and vandalized, let’s accelerate the release of more of these buildings to our highest-performing and most popular public charter schools.”

Conservative estimates project that DC’s population of public school students will grow to 125,000 by 2025. That means that within the next ten years, DC will need to serve an additional 40,000 children in DCPS and public charter schools. The poll findings show that DC parents want to invest now to improve DC schools, particularly by increasing capacity in the most popular schools, so that every child can access a high-quality education.

Some key numbers from the poll include:

  • 7 in 10 voters agree (including 75% of parents) that “schools are improving in upper-income areas of DC, but schools in lower-income parts of the District are being neglected.”
  • 76% of voters, including 83% of parents, agree that “in order to keep young families in DC, we need to improve the quality of traditional DCPS schools, but we also need to expand the top-performing public charter schools so more parents can choose a school that is right for their child.”
  • 3 in 4 voters (76%) believe public charter schools should be part of the solution for vacant school buildings.
  • 2 in 3 voters (65%) support a proposal for DCPS to partner with a “top-performing public charter school” to help turn around struggling schools.

The poll was conducted by Benenson Strategy Group from September 28-October 6, 2015, and includes data from 686 telephone interviews. All respondents are registered voters in Washington, DC, and an oversample of parents and cell phone users was included to ensure accurate representation in the survey. The margin of error for the data set is +/- 3.7% at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error for parents is +/- 5.9% at the 95% confidence level.

The full polling memo can be found here.

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Contact:
Catharine Bellinger
202-361-9172

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