Released: 11/16/2009
Author(s): Paul DiPerna
This statistically representative survey of 1,203 likely Virginia voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. The underlying purpose of the Friedman Foundation’s state surveys is to measure voter knowledge and attitudes toward public institutions and policies, innovative ideas, and the state’s K-12 education system.
The survey results shed light on the major disconnect between parental schooling preferences and actual school enrollments.
- 40% of parents said they would choose a regular public school for their child. Approximately 90% of Virginia’s enrolled K-12 students attend regular public schools.
- 39% of K-12 parents say they would like to send their child to a private school. In reality, however, approximately 9% of Virginia’s K-12 students attend private schools.
- 11% of parents in our survey would prefer to homeschool their child. According to data collected by the Virginia Department of Education, just under 2% of the state’s children are homeschooled.
- 8% of parents say they would like to send their child to a charter school. Currently there are only three charter schools in operation in Virginia, serving approximately 190 students.
A total of 1,203 live phone interviews were conducted by Braun Research, Inc., October 1 – 4, 2009. The margin of error for the full sample of likely voters is ± 2.8 percentage points; the margin of error is higher when considering the number of respondents for a given demographic subgroup.
