Only 29 Have Confidence in Americans Public Schools

GALLOP: Lack of confidence at All-Time High

By Lindsey Burke

Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Last week Gallup released its annual Confidence in American Institutions" poll which the company has conducted since 1973. This years results revealed that just 29 of Americans have confidence in the nations public schools. But does our lack of confidence in public schools make us un-American?   That number has declined from 33 since 2008 and is down from 58 in 1973.

See Gallups Confidence in U.S. Public Schools at New Low

Americans have always strived for the best. Our public schools are far from it. Across the country just one-third of children are proficient in reading. In the urban centers that number is tragically lower. In Chicagowhere public school teachers at the behest of government unions are set to strike to demand a 30 pay raisejust 15 percent of children are proficient in reading. Americans by and large also believe that individuals are better equipped than government to innovate and produce greatness and that markets work to lift everyones standard of living. Our monopolistic public school system fails that test too. Because of pervasive assignment-by-zip code policies students are zoned" to the closet public schools regardless of whether they meet the students needs. As a result public schools get a steady stream of studentsand dollarsno matter how poorly they serve the public. And those dollars are considerable. Per-pupil expenditures in government schools have more than doubled in the years since Gallup began surveying public institutions. Yet quality remains low. So its no surprise that Americans increasingly seem to be looking to educational innovation outside the public school system as it sprouts up all over the country. Charter schools are now mainstream state after state is implementing school choice options and online learning is proliferating. Parents know they have an increasing number of quality education options for their children that extend beyond the hallways of public schools. The lack of confidence in public schools does not mean we have lost faith in the importance of education to improve outcomes or economic mobility. Instead Gallups poll shows that Americans are increasingly gravitating toward Milton Friedmans belief that public education doesnt have to mean government-run schools. Lindsey M. Burke is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education Policy for The Heritage Foundation. Burke writes on Federal & State Education Issues focusing on two critical areas of education policy: Reducing the federal role in education and Empowering families with school choice.