Wisconsin Parents Want Flexibility

Brookfield, WI – In celebration of National School Choice Week, School Choice Wisconsin is releasing an OnMessage statewide education poll that shows Wisconsin parents have a strong desire for educational flexibility during the COVID pandemic. School Choice Wisconsin commissioned the poll of 800 Wisconsin likely voters in the late fall of 2020 to collect reactions to school closures, enrollment options and other aspects of parental empowerment in education.

Major findings:

• 62% want schools to be open with some form of in-person education. (Yesterday, the CDC released a study supporting the reopening of schools. An article and study can be found here: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/26/960885936/cdc-makes-case-for-school-reopening)
• 70% support parents being able to transfer public districts if a district does not allow in-person education.
• 88% of respondents support the idea that teachers are essential workers.
• 73% support a change in the mission for the Department of Public Instruction to support all families of students in public, private, charter and homeschool setting.
• 76% support giving micro-grants to parents in a forced virtual setting to help them purchase equipment or educational services needed to educate their children at home.
• 64% support utilizing modern enrollment data and techniques for allocating funding in education as opposed to a single count date in each semester.
• 61% support the Wisconsin School Choice Program.

“Over the past year, Wisconsin parents have experienced changing roles in education with parents also serving as teachers.” Jim Bender of School Choice Wisconsin said. “Combine these new roles with uncertain economic times and families have had difficulties finding workable solutions. This poll shows the general public thinks parents should have more control in education.”

The survey was conducted by OnMessage Inc in Wisconsin. Telephone interviews were conducted on October 2-6, 2020. This survey consists of 800 likely general election voters and was stratified to reflect historic voter trends. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.46%.

OnMessage is polling/public relations firm based in Alexandria, VA with experience on education topics across the country. OnMessage has been involved in polling and focus group work in Wisconsin for nearly two decades. More information can be found here: https://onmessageinc.com/