(The Center Square) – With just weeks to go until the new school year begins in Texas, a new poll finds that more than two-thirds of Texans support school choice.
The findings come from a five-year “Texas Trends” study launched by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Policy and Texas Southern University. The latest report, the fourth in the series, found that 69% of the nearly 2,300 Texans surveyed support the Texas Legislature creating an education savings account program for all parents statewide, with 30% strongly supporting it.
This is up from 49% who answered the same question in an October survey.
“Not only is there support across race and party lines, but also among urban, suburban and rural voters,” said Jim Granato, dean and professor at the Hobby School. “While rural residents and the legislators who represent them have traditionally aligned with urban Democrats in opposition to voucher proposals, we found that 63 percent of rural and semi-rural respondents support vouchers open to all families, along with 64 percent of suburban residents and 67 percent of urban residents.”
“I think the most important thing is that we’re seeing a continuing change in attitudes toward these programs.”
The results are consistent with a February Hobby poll that found Republican primary voters are more likely to vote down incumbents who oppose ESAs, The Center Square reported. The poll was accurate: Most of the pro-school choice candidates backed by Gov. Greg Abbott won both the Republican primary in March and the runoff election in May.
“The Texas Legislature now has enough votes to pass school choice,” Governor Abbott said after the May election. “This is a win for every family in our great state of Texas.” After 21 Republican House members joined Democrats in blocking school choice legislation last legislative session, Governor Abbott campaigned on several Republican school choice candidates.
Last year, Governor Abbott called four special legislative sessions during which the Texas Senate passed several school choice bills that would have created the state’s first education savings account program, but the bill never made any progress in the Texas House of Representatives.
Since then, polls have shown that many more Texans support school choice, with 73% of Republicans and 55% of Democrats in favor.
The survey found that support was stable across racial demographics, but was highest among blacks and Hispanics, who strongly supported legislation creating ESAs that would be available to all households, not just low-income ones.
Of the three parties, blacks and Hispanics expressed the most support.
Among Republican voters, blacks expressed the most support at 81%, followed by Hispanics at 75% and whites at 73%.
Among independents, 76% are black, 63% are Hispanic, and 63% are white.
Among Democrats, 66% are black, 55% are Latino, and 49% are white.
The poll also found that younger Texans, those earning less than $30,000 a year, those with children under 18, and majorities of Protestants and Roman Catholics strongly support ESAs.
“Many supporters see this proposition as giving parents more power over their children’s education and ensuring their children go to high-performing schools,” said Mark Jones, a senior fellow at the Hobby School. “Even people who are happy with their local public schools strongly support this proposition.”
Half of those surveyed said they were satisfied with their local public school district, while 29% said they were dissatisfied.
The survey was conducted in English and Spanish from June 20 to July 1, and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
