Where is the Public Support for Vouchers?

The truth behind vouchers:

Voucher supporters claim the public wants tax dollars to be spent on vouchers for private and religious schools.
But every time vouchers have appeared on the ballot, they have gone down to crushing defeat. Most recently, in 2000, voucher proposals in California and Michigan were defeated overwhelmingly - neither received 40 percent of the vote.

Research shows that African-Americans oppose vouchers:

  • In California, 68 percent of African-American voters opposed vouchers in November 2000; that same day, 78 percent of African-American voters in Michigan rejected that state's voucher proposal.*
  • The National Urban League's 2001 "State of Black America" poll shows a rise in voucher opposition by African-Americans. In 2001, 58 percent of African-Americans said education tax dollars should be spent only on public schools, while just 34 percent favored some tax money going for private school vouchers, a drop of 7 percent from 2000.**
  • A 2001 nationwide poll by Zogby International for the National School Boards Association showed that 57 percent of African-Americans oppose vouchers, and the opposition was high: more than twice as many African-Americans said they "strongly oppose" vouchers rather than "strongly favor" them. The poll also found that African-Americans rank vouchers dead last among several ways to improve the public schools. By a margin of 7-1, African-Americans would prefer smaller class sizes over vouchers.***
  • The Zogby poll found 87 percent of African-Americans expect private schools "to admit all students, regardless of academic or physical abilities." But only one in four private schools would accept students with special needs such as learning disabilities, limited English proficiency, or low achievement. ****
  • In addition, the Zogby poll found that 93 percent of African-Americans expect private schools to give their students the same tests as public school students, but a federal study showed that up to two-thirds of private schools would not accept voucher students if they had to administer those tests.*****

NJEA Voucher Task Force, August 2003

*Exit polls for California, CNN.com, Nov. 7, 2001; "The Voucher Vote," Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, Nov. 13, 2000.

**"The State of Black America," National Urban League, July 25, 2001.

***"School Vouchers: What the Public Thinks and Why," National School Boards Association/Zogby International poll and executive summary, Sept. 25, 2001. Available at http://www.nsba.org/novouchers.

****"Barriers, Benefits, and Costs of Using Private Schools to Alleviate Overcrowding in Public Schools," U.S. Department of Education, November 1998.

*****Ibid.