Dear Friends,  

I just finished reading a brand new report on school choice in Idaho “School Choice Survey In The State; Idaho’s Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice (March 2008).  The poll was released jointly by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Agudath Israel of America, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Education Excellence Idaho, Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, Idaho Values Alliance, and The Center for Education Reform.  This was a survey of 1,000 likely Idaho voters.  The results are surprising.

• Nearly half of Idaho voters are not satisfied with the state’s current public school system.
• Two thirds of Idahoans do not see a need for more public school funding or higher public school teacher salaries.
• Only 12 percent of Idahoans say a regular public school is the top choice for their child’s school.
• Idaho voters value private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling.
• Idahoans like school choice reforms—67 percent express favorability (sic) to charter schools and 60 percent say they are favorable to school vouchers.
• Idahoans favor a corporate tax-credit scholarship system.
• Idaho voters also support a personal tax-credit scholarship system.
• Over half of Idahoans (59 percent) cite “academic quality” or “school curriculum” as the main reason they would choose a particular type of school as the best type for their child.
• Idaho voters are more likely to vote for a state representative, state senator or governor who supports a tax-credit scholarship system.
• Knowledge about school vouchers is at a low baseline in Idaho — there is an information deficit about this type of system reform.
• Knowledge about charter schools in Idaho is at a relatively higher baseline compared to other polled states.
• Idaho school choice advocates have the opportunity to reach out to families and communities and inform them about school choice reforms.

The National Education Association (NEA) and the Idaho Education Association (IEA) would have you believe we have the best educational system in the world.  I know we have many excellent teachers and some good curricula.  We have some school buildings that are new, useable and sanitary.  But, the facts are that year by year many of our children are not learning to read, and much that is in the curricula does not mesh with what a child needs to know in order to be successful in life and the real world. 

This study covers a lot of ground and the answers are surprising.  The IEA would have you believe that most parents favor public education.  This poll indicates that they do not.  Parents, and tax-payers are tired of spending more and more on education and seeing little or no improvement in quality.  Education represents almost 2/3 of the state budget, so there is a lot of room for improvement and potential for savings.  I just received a voter/candidate survey from the IEA and almost all the questions concerned supporting programs that spend more money; smaller classrooms, higher teacher salaries, lower retirement age etc.  I once asked the IEA if they had no other issues, but it always seem to be money, and the standard answer is “more, more, more”.  It reminds me of the grave, never satisfied. (See the Bible)  

I hope you will take the time to read the whole poll: It does not take more than a few minutes.  Then, share this with your many friends.  We need to let people know that they are not alone in their feelings about public education and school choice options.  

Here is the web link for the complete report:     School Choice Survey  

Thanks so much.
Jim Hollingsworth, Candidate for state representative, District Four
www.IdahoansForHollingsworth.com

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