Private schools first, public schools last in Gallup poll
https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2017/08/private-schools-first-public-schools-last-in.html

Melissa Wylie, Bizwomen reporter
Aug 22, 2017, 10:31am EDT

A new Gallup survey showed seven out of 10 U.S. adults believe private schools provide excellent education, receiving far more support than public schools.

Public schools ranked last among participants, falling behind home schools, charter schools, church-affiliated schools and private schools in terms of providing excellent K-12 education. Only 44 percent in the survey thought public schools provided a good or excellent job of educating; 71 percent thought the same of private schools.

Both Democrats and Republicans ranked private schooling as most effective. Church-affiliated schools also ranked second for both parties. But Republicans ranked public schools last, while Democrats ranked them third, per Gallup.

“Americans as a whole believe private and parochial schools do a better job of educating students than public schools do, something that might be remedied with the right federal or state public school education policies,” Gallup’s Lydia Saad told United Press International. “Another remedy may be expanding charter schools so that parents of children in failing public schools who can’t afford private school have other options for their children.”

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a proponent of charter schools as an alternative to public schools, UPI reported.

Gallup reported this year’s overall ranking of educational institutions is the same as it was in a similar survey in 2012. However, in the past five years, Democrats’ support of charter schools has fallen from 61 percent to 48 percent. Republicans’ support of charter schools has remained steady at 62 percent, per Gallup.