Teachers Support Federal Tax Credit, Prioritizing Education Issues As Midterms Approach

This fall, we launched our second and final teacher survey of 2026.

In this survey we posed a plethora of questions to America’s teachers to better understand their opinions and perspectives as they begin the 2026-27 school year.

We included topics like technology and AI, voting priorities in the upcoming midterm elections, and feelings towards the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships.

In partnership with Morning Consult, EdChoice surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,033 teachers from September 26 to October 7, 2026. I’d highly recommend reading the full report, which can be found here.

What did we learn?

Teachers feel slightly more optimistic as the school year begins

Over half (52%) of teachers feel that K-12 education is headed in the right direction in their local school district, up 4 points from April. Teachers are also feeling more positive when thinking about K-12 education at the state level (42% right direction, +6 points from April) and national level (34%, +8 points from April). While it’s true that teachers are slightly more positive compared to the spring, more than half of teachers feel K-12 education is headed in the wrong direction at both the state (53%) and national level (58%).

Similarly, teachers are slightly more likely to recommend the teaching profession. Nearly a quarter of teachers (23%) are very likely to recommend teaching to a family member or friend, up 2 points from the spring. Private school teachers (33%) are more likely than public school teachers (22%) to promote the teaching profession.

Teachers have education on their mind this election cycle

Perhaps unsurprisingly, education issues were at the top of teachers’ priorities when voting in the midterm elections. When asked about their top three issues when voting for federal offices (such as U.S. Senate or Congress), teachers listed economic issues (72%), education issues (72%), and health care (51%).

Teachers’ top three priorities remained mostly consistent when thinking about voting for state offices such as Governor and State legislature, though education was the top priority for teachers when voting for state offices, at 74%. Economic issues trailed closely behind at 69%, while health care issues came in third at 50%. The more local the election, the more likely teachers are to prioritize education when casting their vote.

We also asked teachers about whether their views would change towards a potential candidate based on the candidate’s support of education savings accounts (ESAs). We asked the following question:

“Thinking ahead to the next election, if a candidate for Governor, State Senator, or State Representative supports education savings accounts (ESAs), would that make you more likely to vote for him or her, less likely, or make no difference in how you vote?”

Teachers were split in their responses. More than one third of teachers (36%) said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports ESAs, while 34% said it would make no difference as to their opinion of the candidate. Only 12% of teachers said supporting ESAs would make them less likely to vote for that candidate, while 17% had no opinion.

Teachers’ views and awareness on the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships

For the first time, we gauged teachers’ awareness of the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships. While the Federal Tax Credit has been a hot topic in the K-12 education world over the last few months, only 23% of teachers said they’ve heard “a great deal” or “a lot” about the tax credit. Comparing their awareness to the general public and school parents puts them squarely in the middle, as 16% of Americans and 31% of school parents signaled a high level of awareness of the tax credit.

Nearly one third of teachers (30%) said they’ve heard nothing at all about the new tax credit.

As for teachers’ feelings on the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships, 70% of teachers support their state opting into the tax credit. Just under a quarter of teachers (24%) strongly support their state opting in, while another 47% somewhat support the idea of opting in. Only 13% of teachers oppose their state opting into the tax credit. For context, teachers are slightly less supportive of the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships than school parents (75%) and slightly more supportive than the general public (64%).

Interestingly, public school teachers (72%) are slightly more supportive towards the Federal Tax Credit for Scholarships than private school teachers (68%). At the same time, public school teachers’ awareness of the tax credit is much weaker than that of private school  teachers, with 34% of public school teachers saying they’ve heard nothing at all about the tax credit compared to just 23% of private school teachers.

Educational choice policies, especially ESAs, are popular among teachers

Without a description of ESAs, 63% of teachers support the policy. With a description of ESAs, however, support jumps 12 points to 75%. Support for ESAs spans across the different sectors. Private school teachers support ESAs at 84%, while 73% of public school teachers favor the policy.

Thinking about eligibility for ESAs, teachers are much more likely to support the universal model, where ESAs are available to all students regardless of income or special needs (70%). Over half of teachers (57%) feel that ESAs should be determined based on income or special needs.

We observed a smaller jump in support of school vouchers when a description is provided. Without a description, just over half (51%) of teachers support school vouchers. With a description provided, support rises 5 points up to 56%. Nearly two in five teachers oppose school vouchers with a description provided. Opposition to vouchers (38%) is much higher than teachers’ opposition to ESAs (16%).