Support for School Choice Policies Remains High

In 2024, the momentum for enacting new or expanding existing programs to make all families eligible to participate continued. As of now, 13 states have made their stance clear by creating or expanding programs that allow for every family to be eligible to participate, with Alabama and Louisiana being the latest states to do so. While the demand for school choice in America has been consistently strong, and many states have fought tirelessly to make it a reality for as many families as possible, there has been much debate on how broad these programs should be.

The recent growth of state’s enacting universal or near-universal choice programs has not occurred at random. Public and parent support for choice programs, especially education savings accounts (ESAs), is consistent and strong. For instance, more than 67% of Americans support ESAs and school vouchers, while over 75% of school parents support those policies. We’ve observed similar levels of support for these policies since 2019. Furthermore, support is also high among many different demographic groups, often including those with very different ideological views. For example, more than 70% of Republicans and Democrats support ESAs.

Utilizing data from the recently released Schooling in America Survey, we are able to analyze the public’s attitudes towards five types of school choice programs: ESAs, school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, charter schools, and open enrollment among public district schools. Furthermore, we report results for both baseline (no description) and descriptive questions assessing the support and opposition for these types of school choice policies. Lastly, we continued to ask Americans their feelings on universal ESAs compared to needs-based ESAs.

Here is what we found:

ESAs Remain Most Popular School Choice Policy for Eighth Consecutive Year

Without a description, 50% of Americans and 58% of school parents have favorable views towards ESAs. In a follow up question where both sets of respondents were provided with a description of ESAs, public support and school parent support for ESAs greatly increased by 26 points, to 76% and 84%, respectively. Both groups support ESAs at higher levels than other school choice policies, a consistent pattern that has held steady since 2017.

Opposition toward ESAs is consistently low. Americans are more than three times as likely to support ESAs than to oppose them. School parents are more than five times as likely to support ESAs than to oppose them. There was an uptick of respondents who said they have never heard of ESAs, increasing five points to 36% in 2024.

High levels of support exist among many different demographic groups. School parents (84%), Hispanic respondents (83%), Millennials (81%), and urbanites (81%) are the most likely to be favorable towards ESAs. Rural respondents (72%), white respondents (73%), and baby boomers (73%) are among the least likely groups to support ESAs, albeit with support levels that are still quite high.

Americans Prefer Universal ESAs to Needs-Based

We asked Americans their opinions on awarding ESAs to all students compared to limiting them to students based on need, using a split-sample experiment. A split-sample experiment randomly places respondents in one of two groups. In this case, the first group received a question gauging whether ESAs should be made available to all families, while the second group received a question asking if ESAs should be given to families based on financial need.

More than two-thirds (71%) of Americans agree that “ESAs should be available to all families, regardless of income or special needs.” The comparison statement, “ESAs should only be available to families based on financial need,” garnered a much lower level of support at 53%. The percentage of Americans who support needs-based ESAs remained relatively unchanged from last year, while the percentage of Americans who support universal ESAs decreased by five points in 2024. Even still, there remains a significant gap between Americans’ support for universal ESAs and their support for needs-based ESAs.

Nearly 80% of Parents Support Vouchers

School vouchers, as described in our survey, continue to be popular among the general public and school parents. Without a description, 50% of Americans and 59% of school parents support school vouchers. Americans’ support jumps 16 points to 67%, while support for school vouchers among school parents jumps 19 points to 78%, when given a description. School parents’ favorability toward school vouchers increased three points to 78% in 2024, one of the highest levels of support we have observed in our survey series. School parents are three times as likely to favor school vouchers than they are to oppose them.

Like ESAs, support for school vouchers is high among a variety of demographic groups. Millennials (76%), Republicans (75%), and Hispanic adults (75%) are most likely to support school vouchers. The groups least likely to be supportive of school vouchers are those earning $80,000 or more annually (57%), respondents with at least a bachelor’s degree (57%), and baby boomers (58%).

Support of TCS and Open Enrollment Outpaces Charters

Several other types of school choice policies are also popular among Americans generally, and school parents in particular. The latter group is especially supportive of tax-credit scholarships or TCS (79%) and open enrollment (81%). School parents’ support of public charter schools has lagged behind a bit, at 72%. Furthermore, school parents’ opposition of charter schools has increased slightly for the second year in a row. The general public’s favorability toward these policies follows the same pattern. They are more likely to support open enrollment (74%) and tax-credit scholarships (69%) than charter schools (62%) in 2024.

Americans have made clear for more than a decade that school choice is popular amongst a wide array of demographics, even those with differing ideologies. In addition, the general public is consistent in their support of making these policies available to every family, not limiting participation based on financial need. While differences exist in the support levels of the general public and school parents, as well as with the different policy types, support for school choice remains high again in 2024.

Editor’s Note: This is an adaptation of data found in the 2024 Schooling in America Report.