Education Study Provides More Ammunition For Much Needed Reform
Here are more telling details from the education choice polling data and study of which we were a party and released yesterday: Paul DiPerna, research director for The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, wrote in his study that the research indicates:
a major disconnect between Virginia’s schooling preferences and actual school enrollments. … As in other states where we have surveyed, the implication of these results is that Virginia does not have a sufficient school choice system in place to match parents’ schooling preferences. (See the entire report here.)
The survey polled 1,203 likely voters and was conducted from October 1-4. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percent points. (See today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch for coverage of yesterday’s study release news conference.) The results illustrate the vast support in Virginia for a program of income tax credits for donations to scholarship foundations that, in turn, provide funds to qualifying students to attend a school of their choice instead of an assigned public school.
Of course, common sense and public opinion never guarantee a thing, and this issue is living proof — for years the General Assembly has refused to pass legislation to enable such foundations to fully unleash their potential to provide more students better education options. But the results of this study will be a much needed resupply of ammunition that we and several partner organizations will use this coming session and beyond. For example:
» 65 percent of Virginians support tax-credit scholarships, while only 22 percent oppose.
» 57 percent of Virginians favor school vouchers, while only 35 percent oppose.
Even when broken down by party affiliation, Virginians strongly support tax-credit scholarships and vouchers:
» 64 percent of Democrats, 68 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents support tax-credit scholarships.
» 53 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of independents support school vouchers.
» 81 percent of Democrats, 79 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of independents support special needs school vouchers.
Additionally, the favor-oppose margins are large among the parties:
» On tax-credit scholarships, it’s +43 among Democrats, +46 among Republicans and +44 among independents.
» On school vouchers, it’s +15 among Democrats, +39 among Republicans and +22 among independents.
» On special needs school vouchers, it’s +67 among Democrats, +64 among Republicans and +60 among independents.
Education reform will be an issue to watch this session. With school choice a major issue in the recent campaign and a new philosophy at the helm of state government, sound ideas, such as those Virginians overwhelmingly support in this study, may have their best chance in years to get a much needed foothold in Virginia’s education system.
So, we DO need education reform because we spend too much and so many don’t see the rewards BUT, we DON’T need health care reform because we spend too much and so many don’t see the rewards? Amazing.
As usual, you take an apples and oranges approach. Education and HC face opposite scenarios. Education: Primarily run by govt. People need choice to foster competition. HC: Not run by govt for the most part. Many choices. Best HC in the world. Govt’s cont’d meddling is what has made prices go up artificially. So less govt., less of a monopolistic trend, decreases prices. More choice = less expense. Less choice = more expense, that’s why it costs the state so much $ per student.
Are you going to complain about the cost of restaurants next? There are zillions of restaurants for every food, style and cost. Still, not everyone goes out to eat or at least not as often nor at the top line restaurants. If the govt. took that over what kind food industry, options, quality and pricing do you think we’d have? Every restaurant would be horrible and private pay-to-get-in types would be spring up only for the wealthy to be able to attend. That’s what will happen with HC under Pelosi-Reid-Obama.
The last I heard apples and oranges were both fruit. All Americans need healthcare and all Americans need education and both are necessary for the good of society. Conservatives are basically making the argument that “….don’t trust your HC to the government, trust it to Wall Street!” For people who are always talking about the “right to life” its amazing that you don’t believe people have a right to the essentials which SUSTAIN life like HC and by the way, there’s a lot of innocent life out there besides just fetuses. “It’s not the governments role to mandate cahrity” you people say. OK, show me a private charity that can come close to paying for HC! The reality is, helath care is a moral imperative and government is the only vehicle that can make it accessible to everyone. A For Profit system has no incentive to cover everyone. To the contrary, it’s in their best interest to drop people from coverage when those persons have cronic conditions (which they frequently do) to prect their bottom line. The whole argument that you people make that the government that governs the least and doesn’t over regulate governs the best is hogwash. If that were true then places like the Philippines where my wife was originally from and other third world democracies would be a utopia where everyone’s needs were met.