School Vouchers Get Low Grades With African-Americans & Hispanics.
February 18, 2002
With the U.S. Supreme Court weighing the constitutionality of school voucher programs, a newly released analysis of a national survey reveals widespread opposition among all groups. Although the Court will be weighing the question of separation of church and state, that issue did not resonate with any demographic group.
The telephone survey of 1,046 respondents was sponsored by Teachers’ Insurance Plan, an insurance program tailored exclusively for educators and their families.
Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (65%) said they do not support the creation of a national school voucher program to give money to parents to enable their children to attend private schools. The only category of adults polled who solidly support a voucher program are parents whose children already attend a private school (66%).
An analysis of the results showed near unanimity among all demographics.
Support the creation of a national school voucher program:
African-Americans: 39%
Hispanics: 34%
Whites: 34%
Ranked voucher programs as their top priority for improving schools:
African-Americans: 1%
Hispanics: 6%
Whites: 6%
Would rather see more funding for public schools than for a voucher
program:
African-Americans: 61%
Hispanics: 59%
Whites: 57%
Support federal tax credits to parents for private school use:
African-Americans: 35%
Hispanics: 34%
Whites: 36%
Believe vouchers will reduce money available to local public
schools:
African-Americans: 46%
Hispanics: 60%
Whites: 57%
Favor prohibiting religious schools from receiving voucher monies:
African-Americans: 21%
Hispanics: 15%
Whites: 17%
Source: The Teachers’ Insurance Plan National Education Survey was sponsored by Teachers’ Insurance Plan, developed by Leflein Associates and conducted by Opinion Research Corp. 1,046 adults were polled by telephone between May 3-6, 2001. There is a margin of error of + or – 3%. The details of this new analysis are based on that survey. Teachers’ Insurance Plan is a privately held, non-partisan insurance services program for educators that sponsors national surveys and research on a variety of issues related to teachers and education. Additional information about Teachers’ can be obtained at http://www.teachers.com.
