Educators aren’t all liberals, according to Education Week’s new survey. But most oppose all forms of school choice.
About half of educators surveyed say they “guard against bringing their personal views into the classroom, reports Alyson Klein.
While 41 percent of respondents described themselves as Democrats and 30 percent as independents, only 27 percent were Republicans.
Half the educators surveyed voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, 29 percent for Donald Trump and 13 percent for a third-party candidate.
The educators, even the Trump voters, oppose charters and vouchers, writes Klein. “A plurality of all those surveyed — 45 percent — ‘fully oppose’ charter schools, while another 26 percent ‘somewhat oppose’ them. And 58 percent don’t support using government funds to help students cover the cost of private school, while 19 percent said they ‘somewhat oppose’ vouchers.
Educators surveyed give poor grades to Democrats on education policy (45 percent give a “D” or “F”) and even worse grades to Republicans (70 percent give a “D” or an “F”), the survey reported.
Unfavorable ratings are higher for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (72 percent) than for Trump (67 percent).
However, “more than half of the respondents — 52 percent — want to see a leaner federal role in K-12 policy,” writes Klein. “By contrast, 27 percent thought the U.S. Department of Education has about the right level of involvement and 15 percent wanted to see more involvement.”
“I believe in states’ rights,” said Laura Hansen, a Democrat and reading specialist in New Hampshire’s Hampstead school district. “The mandates [the federal government] sometimes puts forth are excellent but a lot of the times the mandates are unfunded, so that presents a problem.”
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