Teachers Love School Choice

Our recent teacher poll is full of interesting insights. Alli Aldis wrote a great summary and a deeper-dive post covering teacher views on AI. Both are worth checking out.

But like Auda abu Tayi in Lawrence of Arabia, I am a river to my people. I know what y’all are looking for. In a time of much uncertainty and malice, you want some good school choice news. On this, I will deliver.

My good news for you on this beautiful spring Friday is that teachers support school choice.

Teachers within the public schooling system like it, and so do teachers outside the system. Support varies somewhat based on the particular design of the school choice program, but, in general, teachers support school choice.

Let’s dig into the specifics. I’ll highlight four.

#1: Teachers Like ESAs

When we simply asked teachers if they supported ESAs based on what they already knew or had heard from others, 60% said that they did. Support was more pronounced among private school teachers (perhaps unsurprisingly), with 67% saying that they supported ESAs compared to 58% of public school teachers.

When we provided a description of ESAs, support jumped.

Seventy-five percent of the teachers we surveyed said they supported ESAs once they were given a description, including 74% of public school teachers. Young teachers in particular supported ESAs — 81% of teachers with less than 10 years of experience supported ESAs when given a description.

#2 Teachers Support Universality

Teachers also believe that ESAs should be universal, not targeted.

We asked teachers if they believe ESAs should be available “regardless of incomes and special needs.” We also asked if they believe ESAs should only be available to families based on financial need.

Sixty-seven percent of teachers said ESA programs should be universal. Only 45% believe they should be targeted to families based on financial need.

#3 Teachers Support Charter Schools, but at rates less than ESAs

Charter schools were a less popular form of school choice, but they still held majority support both with and without the extra description.

Simply asking teachers if they support charter schools yielded 51% support, with only 45% of public school teachers but 67% of private school teachers expressing support. Given a description of charter schools, the numbers climbed to 58% of all teachers and 53% of public school teachers.

As with ESAs, younger teachers were more supportive — 65% of teachers with less than five years of experience and 66% of teachers with five to nine years of experience supported charters when given a description.

#4 Teachers show least support for vouchers

The least popular choice option was school vouchers.

Only 46% of teachers supported vouchers without a description, and 52% supported vouchers with one. The low level of support came primarily from public school teachers; only 40% support vouchers without any explanation, compared to 66% of private school teachers. The numbers increase with a description—but even then, only 47% of public school teachers said they supported vouchers as described.

This discontent was driven by older teachers. Only 38% of teachers with more than 15 years of experience supported vouchers without a description, and 46% supported vouchers with one.

Takeaways

We can draw several conclusions from these data.

First, teachers definitely support choice, but the form matters.

We found ESAs to be the most popular form of choice. Even without any description, teachers support ESAs in large numbers. Charter schools are still popular but less so. Vouchers, while a divided issue, see the least support among the three. Vouchers have been part of the educational zeitgeist for a long time and older teachers showing the least support suggests weariness from long-term battles over the issue.

Second, younger teachers are more pro-school choice.

Perhaps younger teachers have simply come of age in a time of massive choice in all areas of their lives. Or maybe, because more and more states have adopted school choice programs, choice has become part of the furniture and less a topic of division. It’s just a normal part of life. Or maybe younger teachers haven’t been as worn down by the arguments of teacher unions over the years and decades. Perhaps younger teachers have school-age children themselves and are thus more open to choice. Whatever the reason, younger teachers tend to support school choice more, which bodes well for the movement.

Finally, teachers support universality.

This is a finding that we have seen repeatedly, from the general public to parents to previous teacher surveys. Many in the policy world assume that people like targeted programs over universal ones, perhaps because kids with special needs or from low-income backgrounds are more sympathetic or because these programs have a smaller price tag.

But those assumptions are incorrect when it comes to teachers, who believe that if we are going to have choice programs, they should be universal.

It is important that policymakers listen to teachers. Anything they want done in schools will have to be carried out by teachers, so winning their support is key.

Teachers support choice, and they can and should be at the forefront of making it a reality for millions of students around the country.

This was originally published to our Substack.