Public Opinion Shifts in Favor of School Choice

The results of a new poll suggest that a majority of Americans now support the expansion of school choice for all families. With 54 percent of respondents saying they favor universal-choice policies—which typically come in the form of programs that let families use government money to pay for private schools—the findings released on Tuesday by the policy and opinion magazine Education Next indicate that the idea has enjoyed a substantial jump in popularity since last year, when just 45 percent of respondents said they supported such proposals.

These findings are a boon for the Trump administration, which to expanding vouchers and again a similar proposal this year. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos previously served as the board chairwoman of the American Federation for Children, which itself as “the nation’s voice for educational choice”; when announcing DeVos’s appointment, Trump indicated he selected her his school-choice agenda.