Parents Don't Support Changes in Education Policy

According to a new poll, most parents with children in public schools don't support recent changes in education policy. The changes include closing low-performing schools, putting public dollars in charter schools and private school vouchers.

The poll, which will be released by the American Federation of Teachers, was conducted by Democratic polling firm Hart Research Associations and surveyed 1,000 parents this month. It found most parents want to see neighborhood schools strengthened and provided with more resources.

AFT President Randi Weingarten will highlight the findings during a speech today at their annual meeting in Washington, according to the Washington Post. And Weingarten will order reinvestment in public schools.

"Decades of top-down edicts, mass school closures, privatization and test fixation with sanctions, instead of support, haven't moved the needle - not in the right direction at least," Weingarten said in remarks provided to the Washington Post. "You've heard their refrain: competition, closings, choice. Underlying that is a belief that disruption is good and stability is bad."

The poll results go against the argument that parents want more choice in deciding where to send their children and a market-based approach to education, according to union officials. Sixty-one percent of parents polled said they were opposed to closing low-performing schools and reassigning students to different schools, and one-third approved of the policy.

More than three out of every four parents said they were opposed to cutting compensation for teachers or reducing resources for the classroom to increase spending on charter schools, the poll showed.

A majority of parents said that learning in the classroom is sacrificed in order to work on state tests during the school year and that their children have been anxious about the tests.