A recent poll shows that public support for school choice -- including vouchers, education savings accounts and online learning -- has reached an all-time high.
The PDK/Gallup poll shows that demand for school choice is increasing because parents are more aware of the opportunities it presents. Plus, Lindsey Burke of The Heritage Foundation says recent SAT data shows public schools are failing to adequately teach kids -- adding urgency to the need for school choice.
"We have polling now that shows such an increase in support for school choice. Forty-four percent of respondents that Gallup polled earlier this [year] said that they were in favor of school choice, of allowing public dollars to follow children to a private school of their choice," Burke relays. "Forty-four percent -- that's a ten-percentage point increase in just one year."
She suggests the increasing parental support for school choice is a result of the successes of such programs.
"So I think if parents can make their voices heard at the state and local level, that's the best possible way that they can help school choice move forward," the analyst states.
According to Gallup, half of the parents surveyed also favor tying teacher evaluations to student performance -- something teachers unions have strongly opposed.
School vouchers on the move in Tennessee
While it appears Tennessee lawmakers are moving to make private school vouchers a reality in the state, some are frustrated that they're not moving fast enough.
Jeff Reed of The Friedman Foundation for School Choice explains that a task force set up by Gov. Bill Haslam's (R) office has been studying the question of school vouchers for more than a year, concluding that it is not a question of if vouchers should be implemented, but when.
"This is certainly a 'when' and 'if' scenario, because as is being seen in other states that have broad private school choice programs, they work, and families are better off as a result of them," Reed notes.
State officials say it could take until 2014 before vouchers become a reality, but Senator Brian Kelsey (R) vehemently argues there is no reason to delay. Reed agrees.
"So clearly there are families who I believe, as state Senator Kelsey mentioned, need choice today," the Foundation's public relations director asserts. "And to that very point, we would argue that those freedoms should be made available as soon as possible."
The Friedman Foundation has been working for years with school-reform advocates in Tennessee to bring about school-choice options.