A new survey conducted by EdChoice finds continuing widespread support among African American families for school choice programs. And when a full explanation of school choice proposals is offered, support for such programs soars among parents of African American children.
The report found that While school choice policies are overwhelmingly popular across all major demographics, Black parents were particularly supportive. When given a description, Black parents are more likely to say they support a school choice policy than White parents. For charter schools, 74 percent of Black parents are supportive compared to 73 percent of White parents. Support for vouchers is substantially higher, at 81 percent among Black parents, 10 percentage points higher than the supportive share of White parents. Notably, there was essentially no difference in support between low-income Black parents and high-income Black parents.
The survey also found that Black parents were more uncomfortable than White parents in sending their children back to in-school instruction as the pandemic shows signs of waning. The share of Black parents indicating comfort with in-person education is 15 percentage points lower than that of White parents.
When given the option of all five school days of the week educating outside the home, completely inside the home, or one to four days at home, only 34 percent of Black parents said they would prefer schooling to take place completely outside of the home, 11 percentage points lower than White parents.
Only 49 percent of Black parents said that they were willing to have their children receive the COVID-19 vaccine. For White parents the figure was 58 percent.
The survey, “Public Opinion Tracker Deep Dive: Perspectives of Black K-12 Parents,” may be found here.
