If YOU had the choice, where would you educate your child?

Friedman 2014 Education Survey

The 2014 version of The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice’s annual public survey is out, and I have been going through some of the findings over the past few days.

A major interest of the Friedman Foundation is parental education choice, and the next question from the survey is very pertinent to that interest.

Friedman asked Americans to tell them where they would prefer to send their kids to school. This graphic shows what America answered back. It also shows the current demographics of where students actually do attend schools in America today.

Where Americans Would Like to Send Their Kids to School

It is clear that if Americans were given the choice, they overwhelmingly would chose a “school of choice” for their children such as a charter school, private school or schooling at home. Fully 61 percent of the respondents would place their child elsewhere from the traditional public school system. Only about one in three would put their children in a traditional public school.

Of course, something very different is actually happening today. The vast preponderance of students, 87 percent of them, are in traditional public school classrooms, a place many of their parents obviously would not choose if given the option to select another school setting.

So, why does the legislature in Kentucky continue to fight the idea of school choice? Who benefits from that? Clearly, it isn’t what the general public would choose.