New Yorkers are divided when it comes to Governor Hochul’s proposal to lift the cap on charter schools, according to the results of two recent surveys.
The surveys, both conducted within the past month, found that roughly 30 percent of respondents expressed support for charter school expansion in New York. One poll was released on Feb. 9 by two teachers’ unions that oppose lifting the cap, while the other by a group in support of raising it.
The two unions, New York State United Teachers union and the United Federation of Teachers union, have been outspoken critics of lifting the cap and have mounted a major campaign in opposition. Meanwhile, the second poll was released on Jan. 30 by the Democrats for Education Reform New York, a group that is advocating for lifting the cap.
The poll released by the teachers’ unions was conducted by Hart Research, a Washington, D.C.-based public opinion research firm and looked at “Voter Opposition to Charter School Expansion.” The poll surveyed 801 registered state voters — 24% have children in elementary or secondary schools and 6% have children in charter schools — and was conducted over the phone from Feb. 3 to 6. About 39% of the respondents are from New York City.
The unions’ poll pits multiple issues against each other and asks voters to prioritize an array of school needs, ranging from “expanding literacy and reading programs for struggling students” to “expanding access to career and technical education” to “addressing shortages of teachers, counselors, and nurses.”
“We took this list of seven priorities and asked people to tell us which two they consider to be the highest priorities,” said Geoff Garin, President of Hart Research. “There’s other polling out recently on this that don’t deal with reality: There is a zero-sum game in terms of education funding, and expanding funding for charter schools comes at a price for regular local public schools.”
Most respondents did not see increasing the number of charter schools as a high priority, ranking it last in comparison to other school issues.
Increasing the number of charter schools was a high priority for 33% of voters, ranking well behind the 94% who view “expanding literacy” as more important. Hart Research previously released a poll in 2013 which also pit the issues of increasing charters with less spending on public schools against one another.
“Eliminating the cap would result in a major transfer of resources from public schools,” said Andy Pallotta, President of New York State United Teachers.
The unions’ poll listed several reportedly negative aspects of charter schools and asked respondents how they felt about charter schools with those aspects in mind, including: “Charter schools in New York have been found to discriminate against students with disabilities” and “charter schools have been found to exclude students who do not fit their business model” and “Even though they receive tax dollars, charter schools are not required to meet the same standards of transparency and accountability as regular public schools.”
“We still don’t get to the root of the real issue: the inequity of charters,” said Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers. “They are not serving the neediest children, the children who have educational challenges, children who are dealing with all sorts of fiscal crises, homelessness, English language learners.”
Morning Consult, an international data gathering company that looks at the economy, politics, technology, and consumer attitudes, conducted a Jan. 23-24 poll surveying 600 registered voters on New York City charter schools. The poll was released on Jan. 30 by the Democrats for Education Reform New York.
The poll found that 20% of respondents were very favorable of charter schools, 28% partly supported them, 24% didn’t have an opinion, 18% were partly not supportive, and 12% were very unfavorable of charter schools.
The researchers posed questions including arguments from both supporters and opposers of charter schools. The poll also introduced positive “attributes” of charter schools such as “Open to all students, with no admissions testing” and “Give families choices in their children’s schools.”
At the end of the poll, researchers asked respondents to re-vote on whether or not they support charter school expansions. Those who strongly supported expansion increased from 16% to 22%, while those who strongly opposed expansion remained at 12%.
“New Yorkers always want more choices, and this poll shows that includes more high-quality choices in the public school system,” said Jacquelyn Martell, Executive Director of Democrats for Education Reform New York.