(The Center Square) – With just a few weeks before school starts in Texas, a new poll shows that more than two-thirds of Texans support school choice.
The findings come from a five-year “Texas Trends” survey launched by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs and Texas Southern University. The latest report, the fourth in the series, found that 69% of nearly 2,300 Texans surveyed support the Texas legislature creating an Education Savings Account program for all parents statewide; 30% strongly support it.
That’s up from 49% in response to the same questions asked in an October survey.
“There is across-the-board support, not only across racial and partisan lines, but among urban, suburban and rural voters,” Jim Granato, dean and professor at the Hobby School, said. “Rural residents, and the legislators who represent them, have traditionally joined with urban Democrats to oppose voucher proposals, but we found 63% of respondents in rural and semi-rural areas support vouchers open to all families, along with 64% of suburban residents and 67% of urban residents.
“I think the major takeaway is that we are seeing an ongoing shift in attitudes about these programs.”
The findings are also consistent with a February Hobby poll that found that Republican primary voters were more likely to vote out incumbents who opposed ESAs, The Center Square reported. The findings were accurate. In both the Republican March primary and May runoff elections, the majority of pro-school choice candidates endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott won their races.
“The Texas Legislature now has enough votes to pass school choice,” Abbott said after the May election. “This is a victory for every Texas family across our great state.” Abbott had campaigned for multiple Republican pro-school choice candidates after 21 House Republicans voted with Democrats to block a school choice measure in the last legislative session.
Last year, Abbott called four special legislative sessions during which the Texas Senate passed a school choice bill several times that would have created the state’s first Education Savings Account program. It went nowhere in the Texas House.
Since then, even more Texans support school choice, the poll found, including 73% of Republicans and 55% of Democrats.
Support holds steady across racial demographics but is highest among Blacks and Hispanics who strongly support a law creating ESAs made available to all families, not just limited to low-income families, the survey found.
Among all three political parties, Blacks and Hispanics expressed the most support.
Among Republicans, Blacks expressed the most support of 81%, followed by 75% of Hispanics and 73% of whites.
Among independents, they include 76% of Blacks, 63% of Hispanics, and 63% of whites.
Among Democrats, they include 66% of Blacks, 55% of Latinos and 49% of whites.
A majority of younger Texans, those earning $30,000 a year or less, those with children under age 18 and Protestants and Roman Catholics also strongly support ESAs, the poll found.
“Many supporters view the proposals as giving parents more control over their children’s education and as allowing children to attend better-performing schools,” Mark Jones, a senior research fellow at the Hobby School, said. “Even people who are satisfied with their local public schools strongly support these proposals.”
Half surveyed said they are satisfied with their local public school district; 29% said they are dissatisfied.
The survey was conducted in English and Spanish between June 20 and July 1 and has a margin of error of 2%.
