School choice overwhelmingly supported by diverse voters/teachers, says CA School Choice Foundation president
Opportunity Now chatted with Michael Alexander—the California School Choice Foundation president and Californians for School Choice chairman—about the data on who supports local school choice initiatives.
Opportunity Now: Is school choice supported by our state’s diverse voters pool? In other words, is passing a Californian initiative even feasible?
Michael Alexander: All polling done on school choice, regardless of political affiliation, shows strong support.
To provide an example, Democrats aren’t usually thought of as pro-school choice. However, two-thirds of Latino Democrats support school choice. About 70% of black Democrats support it; 40% of other Democrats, such as white party members, support school choice. Evidently, there’s an overwhelming amount of support for school choice among Democrats.
When we took our Educational Freedom Act petition to the streets, we were limited by manpower and resources, and this is why we believe we couldn’t gather enough signatures. Of the people we reached out to for a signature, fewer than 1 in 100 declined to sign our petition.
We’re a nonpartisan movement and strongly urge candidates of all affiliations—Republican, Democrat, etc.—to support school choice. It’s a winner of an issue.
ON: What about teachers? Do they support school choice?
MA: Among public school teachers themselves, over 30% in certain urban districts, to our own send their children to private schools. Why? They recognize that government schools aren’t usually that good, and their salaries are high enough so they can afford private school tuition.
Many teachers signed our petition when it circulated, and I predict two out of three will vote to prioritize school choice when the Educational Freedom Act gets on the ballot.
On a similar note, President Biden attended private academies; his children went to private schools. Teachers and politicians obviously believe in school choice for their own kids.
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This is part of an exclusive Opp Now series. Opp Now spoke with the CA School Choice Foundation president about the following education-centered topics:
The recent Maine Supreme Court decision
Why counterarguments of equity fall short in the school choice debate
The Silicon Valley’s competitive need for school choice
How widely wanted school choice policies are by CA’n voters
How school choice impacts local public schools
How the Educational Freedom Act could cultivate choice for local families in their children’s education
Image by Phil Roeder