Poll shows Texans want school choice options

How would this look for Kentucky?

A new poll released by the American Federation for Children and conducted by Mason-Dixon shows folks in Texas really like school choice options. Here are the questions and results from the poll:

QUESTION: Education Savings Accounts, also known as E-S-A-s, allow parents to use state education tax dollars to customize their child’s learning and development. Approved ESA expenses include technical training, K-12 school tuition, or even special needs therapies from an array of providers including public and private schools or tutors. Do you support or oppose an Education Savings Account program in Texas?

Statewide Results:

Support 74%Oppose 16%Undecided 10%

QUESTION: A tax credit scholarship program would give families access to private schools by allowing companies or individuals to receive a tax credit for donations to non-profit organizations which award scholarships to eligible students. Do you support or oppose a tax credit scholarship program in Texas?

Statewide Results:

Support 64%Oppose 26%Undecided 10%

QUESTION: Do you support or oppose a federal tax credit proposal in Congress where individuals and businesses could donate to non-profit scholarship granting organizations in the states that would provide scholarships for and technical schools of their choice?

Statewide Results:

Support 67%Oppose 24%Undecided 9%So, how might this poll look if given in Kentucky? A clue comes from a poll that only covered scholarship tax credits released in November 2018 by EdChoice Kentucky. That poll showed:

“…that more than 70 percent of voters believe Kentucky’s education system needs significant changes, with 65 percent of voters in support of bringing educational choice programs to Kentucky. In addition, data shows that Scholarship Tax Credits, a form of education choice under consideration in Kentucky, are supported by 62 percent of voters and are favorable across diverse political, regional, and demographic groups.”

Those percentages regarding the scholarship tax credits question are similar to the ones from Texas for the essentially similar tax credit scholarship program.

So, why, when there is so much support for school choice, is Kentucky one of the worst states for actual choice programs? That’s a question you should ask your legislators.