Spring Polling Finds Americans Don’t Support Closing Department of Education 

As the school year winds down, we’re taking stock of what Americans and parents are thinking when it comes to K–12 education. This spring, we surveyed thousands of adults and school parents across the country on issues ranging from mental health to school choice to the role of the federal government in education. Here’s a quick look at what we found. 

In partnership with Morning Consult, EdChoice surveyed a nationally representative sample of approximately 2,250 adults and 1,280 school parents each month in February, March, and April. Find the full report here.  

Here are the highlights: 

1. The majority of Americans do not support closing the Department of Education.

Only 36% of American adults support closing the U.S. Department of Education. Nearly half of Americans (49%) oppose closing the Department of Education—37% expressing that they strongly oppose the idea. Strong differences show up along party lines, with 58% of Republicans supporting closing the department compared to 23% of Democrats. 

Among parents, closing the Department of Education is still not popular—though slightly more parents express support compared to the general public. 41% of school parents say they would support the idea, and 47% oppose it.  

We also asked what role the federal government should play in education, including functions traditionally carried out by the Department of Education. School parents believe that the federal government should play a major role in providing funding for schools serving low-income students (63%) and students with special needs (62%). The majority of parents also think that the federal government should play a major role in ensuring equal opportunities in K–12 education (61%), protecting students’ civil rights (56%), and administering financial aid for college (56%).  

If the Department of Education is completely shut down, it raises the question of how (and if) the federal government will continue to fulfill these functions deemed important by American school parents.  

2. Parents feel slightly more optimistic about national education than they were earlier in the year, but Americans overall remain pessimistic.  

In April, 40% of school parents said that K–12 education is heading in the right direction nationwide. This is up 7 points since January, when only a third of parents felt positively about national education. That said, 44% of parents answered that education is on the wrong track across the country, indicating divided opinions among American school parents.  

As per usual, Americans overall are not as optimistic about U.S. schooling as current school parents. Only 27% of American adults said that national education is on the right track in April, and almost half (48%) said that it’s on the wrong track.  

3. Parent interest in tutoring is on the rise—the highest it’s been since 2021.  

Nearly half of parents (44%) were currently using tutoring or looking for a tutor in April. Back in January, only 35% of parents expressed interest in tutoring. With this shift, we’re observing a roughly even division of school parents who are interested in tutoring and parents who say their child doesn’t need tutoring.  

This growth is concentrated among families who are actively using tutoring. 22% of parents reported having a tutor in April, compared to 17% in January. In other words, we’re seeing increases in actual tutoring, not just increases in interest. 

Notably, 22% is the highest percentage of parents actively tutoring since spring 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve been tracking interest in tutoring for the past four years, starting January 2021.  

4. Mental health services rank as the least accessible student support service at school.  

Only 44% of parents said that mental health services were accessible at their child’s school in March 2025. This puts mental health support in last place in terms of accessibility at school, compared to other support services like career guidance and academic tutoring. Academic tutoring ranks as the most accessible option, with over half of parents (54%) saying tutoring is very or extremely accessible at school.  

Despite challenges in accessibility, parents rank mental health services as important to positive student outcomes. 61% of parents pick mental health support as a top three student support service, putting it ahead of vocation-focused services like career guidance and mentoring programs. Parents see mental health support as important to their children’s future, but many students lack access to this support. 

5. Public support for school choice programs has dipped since last year, though overall support levels remain high.  

In April, the majority of American adults supported choice programs, including education savings accounts (65%), school vouchers (58%), charter schools (62%), and open enrollment (67%). These levels of support represent a decrease since a year ago in April 2024. Public support for different school choice policies is now 2-6 points lower than last year, with the largest decreases in support for ESAs and charter schools.  

On the other hand, school parents remain steadily supportive of choice programs at very high levels. At least 70% of parents support ESAs (76%), school vouchers (71%), charter schools (70%), and open enrollment (76%). This gap between parents and the general public shows up consistently when we ask about choice policies.  

It’s especially timely to monitor how public views on school choice continue to evolve this year as new programs are signed into law—Texas, for example, just enacted an ESA program that will be open to students statewide. As always, we will keep you updated with the latest numbers and analysis.  

To see the full findings, read the rest of the report here.