The Powerful Voting Block: Latino Voters

At the conclusion of this year's election season, while there was much debate about why candidates won and lost, both parties essentially agreed that the Latino vote was critically important to the election—and will be so in future elections, too.

This year, 23.7 million Latinos were eligible to vote—an increase by more than 4 million since 2006.  As Christina Martinez and Julio Fuentes (the head of the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options) write, this election resulted in historic numbers of Latino voters and Latino officials:  Latinos represent 11 percent of voters in 2012—up from 8.2 percent in 2004. And let's not forget that Latino officials serve in the state legislators of 36 states.

As candidates from both parties begin to heavily campaign to Latino voters in coming elections, they should keep in mind the sure place to win support: in education policy.

According to a poll commissioned by the American Federation for Children and HCREO in May 2012, Latino voters in five battleground states strongly support educational choice:

• Ninety-one percent of Latinos—in five key states—Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Nevada—think voucher or scholarship tax credit programs should be available in some form.

• A strong majority of Latinos also support specific types of educational options: 69 percent support voucher programs, 71 percent support scholarship tax credit programs, and 70 percent support education savings accounts.

• An astonishing 80 percent of Latinos support special needs scholarship programs, which can be in the form of voucher programs, scholarship tax credit programs, and education savings account programs.

Latino voters have shown that they support educational options; they have also shown that they vote in large numbers.  Let’s hope elected officials notice and put strong support behind much-needed educational choice.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

Student Enrollment in Charter Schools Continue to Rise

Little more than a week after voters in Georgia voted to greatly expand charter options in the state and voters in Washington voted to bring charter schools to the Evergreen State, our friends at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a new study showing even more great news for educational choice!

In the 2011-12 school year, the charter school enrollment grew 13 percent over the previous year, according to the report.  And a record number of school districts have at least 30 percent of students enrolled in public charter schools.  In New Orleans, 76 percent of students are in charter schools.  Paired with the statewide expansion of the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program and a new scholarship tax rebate program, the Pelican State continues to expand educational choice.

This trend toward educational choice can be seen across the nation.  Just consider this:

• In 2012, five states created new private school choice programs and six programs were expanded.

• Voters overwhelmingly supported elected officials (both Republicans and Democrats) who support educational choice in state elections.  In fact, 83 percent of the candidates endorsed or supported by the American Federation for Children and the American Federation for Children Action Fund were elected.

Detroit Parents Want Educational Options; When Will the City Catch Up?

Nearly 80 percent of parents in Detroit would choose an educational option other than their child’s assigned public school, according to a survey by The Detroit News and the Thompson Foundation. 

The survey also found an even split among support for different types of educational options:  20.8 percent favored Detroit Public Schools; 23.8 percent for charter schools; 23.5 percent for private schools, and 17.6 percent preferred schools outside Detroit.

Only one in five Detroit residents believes that their child's assigned public school is the best educational setting for that child. Despite not having the full slate of educational options available to families—Michigan has no publicly-funded private school choice options—parents are already choosing alternatives to Detroit’s schools.

It’s time for real educational choice in Michigan, and especially Detroit, where the following statistics are the sad reality for the struggling city (all statistics courtesy the New Detroit coalition):

• Only 3 percent of Detroit’s 4th graders and 4 percent of its 8th graders meet national math standards(source: www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org).
• 2010 Michigan on-time high school graduation for African American students was 58%, compared to Latinos (64%), Native Americans (66%), whites (82%), Asians (88%) and 76% overall.
• Only 2 percent of Detroit’s high school students are prepared for college-level math and 11 percent for college-level reading (source: www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org).
• African-American males in Michigan have the lowest high school graduation rate in the country at 33%. White males in the state gradate at a rate of 74% (source: www.umich.edu).
• The achievement gap continues to persist as evidenced by the 2009 Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test – see chart (source: www.michigan.gov/mde).
• Nationally in 2008, the status dropout rate for white persons was 4.8% compared to 9.9% for black and 18.3% for Hispanic persons. “Status dropout rate” is defined as the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (source: nces.ed.gov).

The survey polled 800 Detroit residents by landlines and cellphones from September 22-25 by Glengariff Group Inc.  The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Want to learn more about public polling on educational choice in cities and states across the country? Download our comprehensive polling report, released last month.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

National Polling Report Findings: Support for School Choice Strong

The American Federation for Children today released a national polling report on the growing public support for school choice. 

Among the major findings:

• National: 85 percent of likely voters and 91 percent of Latinos in five battleground states—Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Nevada — think vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs should be available in some form.

• Louisiana: In the month before the April 2012 expansion of Louisiana’s Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program, nearly two-thirds of voters (63 percent) favored the voucher program, compared to 26 percent who opposed it.

• Washington, D.C.: Prior to the April 2011 reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, 74 percent of District residents wanted the program restored and expanded, and 64 percent approved of the program.

• Tennessee: 61 percent of Volunteer State residents support scholarship tax credit programs, more than double the number that oppose them (26 percent).

Support for private school choice is the highest it has ever been.  In fact, the public support of school choice jumped 10 points since last year.  To see all of the findings in the report, click here.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

Study Shows Support for School Choice, Accountability, and Teachers

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Mississippi recently measured support for education reform—including school choice—by both the general public and teachers, according to newly-released data. Published in The Forum, researchers (including Paul E. Peterson of Harvard University, who spoke at the AFC 2012 National Policy Summit) found that 70 percent of the general public supported various types of educational options.

In the realm of school choice, 70 percent of the general public support allowing scholarship tax credit programs and charter schools to operate.  And a majority of respondents support vouchers and half support means-tested vouchers.  Teachers also responded favorably to school choice options, with a majority of teachers supporting scholarship tax credit programs, charter schools, and online education.  According to the study, parents support school choice more than non-parents when it comes to vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs, charter schools, and online courses.

And here's a finding that we're especially excited to see: Democrats and Republicans had no statistical difference in their support of school choice options—and both equally supporting scholarship tax credit programs.

In addition, African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to support school choice than whites.  Supporting that recent finding are results from a poll released earlier this year from the American Federation for Children and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options showing that education ranks as the second-most important issue to Latino voters in the upcoming presidential election.  The poll also showed that a total of 85 percent of voters and 91 percent of Latinos think vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs should be available in some form, while majorities of likely voters and Latinos also support specific school choice proposals as well. 

But school choice isn’t the only area that showed interesting results.  According to the study, the general public strongly supports accountability.  When asked about requiring annual testing, 88 percent of the general public supported the idea. 

The study also looked at general views of teachers.  And the results are just what one would expect: teachers are, rightly, held in high regard.  The authors write:

It is not only in the movies that educators are beloved.  Unlike lawyers, bankers, used-car dealers, and state legislators, teachers maintain a superb reputation.  We all remember at least one who had a decisively positive impact on our lives.  We see them as selfless members of a helping profession.  Most Americans say that teachers have “very great prestige,” an accolade otherwise given by a majority of the public only to firefighters, scientists, doctors, nurses, and military officers.

Support for School Choice: Polling of Likely Voters in Battleground States

The American Federation for Children and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options led a poll on support for education and school choice in five battleground states.  President Obama and Mitt Romney will be fighting to win Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Nevada—all important states in electoral college math.  This survey shows that both should not only make education a major part of the campaign, but should also pay attention to support of school choice among Latino voters.

Beck Research, a Democratic-leaning polling firm conducted a survey of support for school choice across five states from April 17-22.  Surveying 750 likely voters with 117 Latino likely voters, the poll found overwhelming support for school choice.

Education is a top tier issue for battleground voters and Latinos.

In Idaho, The Numbers Don't Lie

While the polls on most people's minds right now have more to do with New Hampshire and South Carolina than anything else, we here at School Choice Now! won't be distracted by any presidential primary polls!

What does have our interest, however, is a set of new numbers from our friends at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. They just released a survey showing overwhelming support for school choice in another state that lacks any private choice programs. This time, it's the citizens of Idaho who are aiming to make their voices heard.

According to the report, which you can read more about here, over 2,000 interviews late last year show that more than 60 percent of Idaho voters favor the creation of a scholarship tax credit program in the state. In addition, nearly 70 percent of survey respondents support charter schools, with the number who "strongly favor" them  at more than four times the number who voiced strong opposition.

Strong Support Among Non-Union Teachers for School Choice

Stay tuned to this space in the next couple of weeks, as we'll be unveiling a fair amount of public polling research that speaks to current opinions on school choice as well as how those ideas have evolved over time.

In the meantime, though, we came across a survey released last week from the Association of American Educators. The AAE is one of the largest non-union teachers associations nationwide. It's made up of teachers at traditional public schools, public charter schools, and private schools.

People who oppose educational options for low-income kids often attack our movement as anti-teacher, forgetting that we believe teachers to be the backbone and lifeblood of strong education in this country. And, they musn't forget that the every one of the educational options for which we advocate is filled with teachers too.

That's all a long way of getting to the point of this post...that teachers support school choice too! The AAE surveyed its members on a host of education reform topics, finding strong support for many of them, including extremely high numbers when it comes to school choice.