As another school year begins, EdChoice and Morning Consult surveyed thousands of parents and other Americans about their views on K–12 education. Here are a few things we learned:

• The majority of Americans continue to be pessimistic about the direction of K-12 education at the local, state, and national level.
• ​Over half of school parents are optimistic about the future of K-12 education in their local school district at the start of the school year.​
• About 60% of Americans view core academic subjects as extremely important for grades K-8, and skills for future employment for grades 9-12.​
• Nearly two-thirds of school parents place emphasis on skills for future employment for grades 9-12.​
• The general public and school parents greatly underestimate their state’s per-student spending in public schools.
• ​The general public and school parents are significantly less likely to say their state’s public school spending is “too low” when given a publicly reported statistic– decreasing by 20 and 24 points, respectively. Providing respondents with a government-reported spending statistic consistently decreases tendency to say public school funding is “too low.”​

Crosstabs are available upon request.