Education Back On The Rise As Deciding Issue For Voters

Education has overtaken the economy as the most important issue facing voters in the Virginia election between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin.

This should come as no surprise given the intensifying microscope this universal issue has been throughout the pandemic. Paraphrasing the famous line from the movie Sunset Boulevard, education is “ready for its close-up.”

Two recent polls of Virginia voters in their state tell the story the best. In September, education was voters’ third priority, just behind the economy and coronavirus, but just last week, another poll shows education overtaking the economy as the most important issue.

This changing tide may reflect the popularity of innovative responses to parent demand for more and better options for their kids like microschools, parent pods and different approaches to virtual and hybrid learning that are bringing the importance of education back to the forefront of voters’ minds and concerns. Alongside this growing recognition is that of perceived hostility to parent rights.

“Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.” was a Washington Post editorial headline last week celebrated by American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, and thousands of her supporters across social media, but strangely, not by parents.

That kind of rhetoric used to be missed by many parents. They were rightly too focused on their own affairs, their families and their jobs, to pay attention to the politics of education – but no more, if some of the state battles brewing are any indication. That the Virginia race will be decided today, according to most polls and media, by education should come as no surprise. There and around the nation, school boards have been slow to rectify Covid-related learning challenges. Parents vocalizing concerns about lagging test scores and challenging content are met with hostility rather than democratic debate. While some argue that parents should have no say in how their students are educated, an October poll from Echelon Insights of 1,098 registered voters found that “the vast majority (72%) support the idea that K-12 parents should have the most or some influence over what schools teach, including 78% of parents. Only 21% say K-12 parents should have no influence.”

This divide between parents and education officials has created a perfect storm for advocates of education choice, everything from choosing your own public school to private school choices where funds allocated for a child’s education follow that student to the school the family chooses. A June, 2021 poll from RealClear Opinion Research found that 74% of voters support school choice, with widespread support across party lines – 83% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, and 70% of Democrats say they strongly or somewhat support school choice.

This is not a new development among the most affected voters, namely BIPOC parents. An August 2019 EdNext Poll found “African American Democrats support targeted school vouchers, universal vouchers, and charter schools at 70%, 60%, and 55%, respectively. Among Hispanic Democrats, support for the three policies is at 67%, 60%, and 47%. On the other hand, just 40% of non-Hispanic White Democrats support targeted vouchers, 46% support universal vouchers, and 33% support charter schools.” A January 2019 Pew Research survey showed education as a top-3 concern of 18 issues tested across all voter demographics.

Much credit for shining the spotlight on education as a hot-button issue goes to minority parents who were riled up during the presidential primaries over the seeming lack of focus on education equity by their Democratic Candidates. Groups like the Powerful Parent Network and “Save Charters” held rallies (sometimes in the pouring rain) before Democrat Presidential debates in 2019 and 2020 in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.  Under the banner and hashtag of “What About Us?”, they demanded that the candidates “not just hear from educators, but hear from real parents whose children are being left behind generation after generation.”

The late Senator Everett Dirksen used to say of politicians that “even if they can’t see the light they can feel the heat.” That appears to have been true about education this year in reaction to the thousands of individuals and organizations zeroing in on taking advantage of the opening for changes that Covid has provided. Legislators and Governors across the country apparently felt the heat, as 14 states have recently enacted legislation giving more power to parents, with Michigan appearing poised to be the 15th.

That’s a very good thing, not only for education itself and the future for underserved kids everywhere, but also for the direct and indirect ways more national attention to educational opportunity is beneficial to a multitude of issues — business and entrepreneurship, government, a more educated and involved citizenry, national security and much more.

Education is once again ready for its close-up, thanks to powerful parents and advocates across the country whose voices and demands are not going away, and in fact are growing in numbers and influence almost daily. America’s kids only stand to benefit.