As the state legislature considers vouchers for religious schools, a new poll of voters in Tennessee shows that they don’t want more school choice. They want charters to be reformed, meaning more transparency and accountability and stronger protections against financial fraud.
Voters ranked school choice dead last among their concerns.
“Metropolitan Nashville Education Association (MNEA) Leaders say a recent survey of local voters shows that Tennesseans overwhelmingly favor reforms for local charter schools to protect students and taxpayers.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected charter expansion as a priority, the survey found. Instead, voters favored charter reforms to strengthen:
• Transparency and accountability
• Teacher training and qualifications
• Anti-fraud measures
• Equity policies for high-need students
“It’s clear our communities support quality public schools, not an expansion of charter schools,” said MNEA President Stephen Henry. “We need to make sure ALL Nashville schools are held to the same accountability and transparency standards that taxpayers expect.”
The survey also found voters rated the need for more parental involvement and the reduction of excessive student testing as bigger priorities than expanding charters.
“Specifically, voters favored by greater than 80% approval reforms that would:
*provide rigorous, independent audits of charter school finances
*require charter schools to publish how they spend taxpayer dollars, including all budgets and contracts
*ensure that teachers in any publicly-funded school meet the same training and qualification requirements”
I don’t think it matters. Voters in Ohio turned down local tax funding for charters and national ed reform lobbyists push it every single year. They were pushing it again this year.
Hell, Ohio expands their voucher program every year although it’s under-subscribed.
By the way, how many states have gone from charters to charters + vouchers?
Weren’t we told there was dissent in the ed reform movement and many of them did NOT back private school vouchers? Why are they silent? Are they afraid to buck their fellow ed reformers? Does ed reform back vouchers or not?
More false advertising and deceptive tactics by the ed reform movement. The minute they expand charters they then go to publicly-funded private schools. Why not just admit they’re in favor of privatizing US public schools? That’s clearly what they’re doing.
Where are the Democrats on vouchers? Anyone know? Are they “agnostic” on this as on everything else? At what point do they gather their courage and dissent from the ed reform “movement”? After public schools are gone?
The very least our political class could do is run on what they plan to do. Run on privatizing public schools. Then people could make an informed choice at election time.
Reputable pollsters almost always provide crosstabs and the actual questions the poll asked. Is there a link to that information?
Does anyone in these statehouses ever work on public schools? You know, the schools 90% of kids attend?
Are we really electing these people to spend all their time promoting private schools? I guess it’s easier for them: they just provide the voucher and go back to fundraising, but don’t they have some duty to occasionally work on the unfashionable “public school sector”? I’m not clear why we need them at all if they’re simply providing payments to contract providers.
A similar poll was conducted by the CEA in CT. Choice was dead last in this survey as well. Overall, the results were very similar.
Choice == opt out.