Most Voters Reject Federal Control Of Education In New Poll

Some 8 in 10 Americans surveyed feel that education decisions should be made closer to home rather than in Washington, a new poll released Sunday reveals.

About 23% of voters say parents should be the primary decision-makers, while a third of respondents favor local school districts determining things like testing standards, classroom curriculum, and school choice, according to the Center Square poll. Another 27% think the decisions should be at the state level.

Only 13% of Democrats support the idea that parents should be in charge of education policy decisions compared to 32% of Republicans. However, 41% of Democrats and 36% of independents support allowing education decisions to be made on the local level.

Just 11% of total respondents felt the federal government should set education standards.

College-educated and non-college-educated adults had similar perspectives on the issue. Around 15% of voters with college degrees and 8% of voters who do not hold college degrees support education being handled at the federal level.

The nationwide survey of 2,565 registered voters,  s, of whom 978 were Republicans, 948 were Democrats and 639 were Independents, was conducted Oct. 2–6 by The Center Square/Noble Predictive Insights. The poll did not specify a margin of error.

The Trump administration has been committed to returning education to the states and has made several strides forward in the effort. Despite several states attempting to stop the Department of Education (ED) from making cuts to its staff, the Supreme Court has given the administration the go-ahead to fire over 1,300 employees. The government shutdown has now allowed the Department to issue a reduction in force for hundreds more workers.

The administration has also begun reallocating several of the education department’s duties, including moving federal workforce development programs to the Department of Labor (DOL) and special needs and nutrition programs to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).