A new national poll suggests there is overwhelming support for school choice among single black mothers in the United States.
Conducted by The Current Project, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the well-being of black single mothers, in partnership with the public opinion research firm EVITARUS, the poll suggested such women were grossly dissatisfied with the schools their children were attending.
“Black single mothers are not confident that today’s education system is meeting their child’s needs, they recognize the clear value in the role public charter schools play, and they want political candidates to support school choice,” reads one of the poll’s key takeaways, according to a news release.
Respondents to the survey indicated that the traditional public school model, which typically requires families within a particular geographic locale to send their children to designated campuses, was not meeting their needs. Some 87% said that “the one-size-fits-all school system of the past often doesn’t meet students’ needs.”
“Black single mothers have compounded pressures that are often exacerbated by ill-designed policies and limited opportunities to expand their economic pathways,” said Alisha Gordon, founder and executive director of The Current Project.
Single black mothers surveyed also registered strong support for public charter schools, with 64% saying that “charter schools help the whole public education system improve for all kids.”
Additionally, respondents suggested that a political candidate’s stance on school choice would impact who they voted for, with 86% saying they would be more likely to vote for someone who supports “giving parents more options to decide where their kids go to school.”
When asked about the education their children were getting, only 31% of the mothers polled said they were very satisfied with their children’s school, 76% said they were concerned about their children’s “learning or academic progress,” and 56% said they considered putting their kids in a different school in the last year.
Many public school systems in Texas have been struggling to provide a quality education to the students in their charge. Dallas ISD, for instance, underperformed across several metrics during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the district’s latest Texas Education Agency accountability report. Only 41% of students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams despite the hard work of the district’s dedicated teachers, and almost 20% of Dallas ISD’s graduating Class of 2022 did not earn a diploma in four years.
As previously reported, The Dallas Express is taking a deep dive into what has become one of the biggest policy debates in Texas as parents and other stakeholders voice concerns over the state of public education today. With declining enrollment at traditional public schools buttressing polls like the one published by The Current Project, school choice has taken center stage in the Texas Republican primary as some Republican incumbents in the House who helped kill the proposed reform last year seek to keep their seats.
The proposal that was on the table, which the Senate and Gov. Greg Abbott supported, would have seen the creation of taxpayer-funded education savings accounts that could be used by parents to pay for private school or homeschooling expenses.
“We view public school choice as an exercise in Black single mother’s agency. Being able to make informed, resourced decisions about where we send our children to school can serve as an interrupter of generational social and economic pitfalls. Our children deserve a high-quality education in a public school and we’re going to hold elected leaders and political candidates accountable to fill this unmet need,” Gordon said.
