Hispanics strongly favor school choice vouchers in Texas

Friedman Foundation:

School choice may be a contentious topic in the legislature, but a new survey shows more than half of Texas voters favor increasing student access to private schools. The poll, released by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, reveals mixed reviews on the quality of K-12 education and particularly strong support for school choice among Hispanic voters.

The “Texas K-12 & School Choice Survey” finds 66 percent of voters support school vouchers, which allow parents to use their children’s public education funds for private school tuition; 27 percent oppose vouchers. Support is strongest among Latino voters, 80 percent of whom favor vouchers.

The statewide survey, conducted by Braun Research, Inc., includes 613 landline and cell phone interviews completed March 19-27, 2013, with a margin of sampling error of ± 4.0 percentage points. The poll also shows high favorability for tax-credit scholarships, a policy that provides tax credits for donations made to scholarship-giving nonprofits—72 percent are in favor, with 20 percent opposed.
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The public school lobby has been effective at stifling competition for education dollars.  The kids in failing schools are the real losers under the current system.  If public schools actually had to compete to attract students to get the dollars, they would have to provide a competitive education experience, something they are not willing to do at this time.