(The Lion) — A national survey by Parents Defending Education (PDE) finds most parents support conservative reforms to the education system.
“These results highlight that parents are dissatisfied with a number of elements of the modern American education system,” said Nicole Neily, president of PDE. “For far too long, federal bureaucrats have sacrificed the needs of students and families in order to appease unions’ and activists’ insatiable demands for money and power. January 20th can’t come soon enough.”
The poll of 1,000 parents gathered opinions from a mix of Republicans (33%), Independents (38%) and Democrats (24%) on a wide variety of issues. Almost all (96%) agreed parents should be able to choose the best educational option for their child.
If given the freedom, only 60% of respondents said they’d keep their child in their current school. Nearly 20% would prefer a different school, and 16% would homeschool.
Nine out of 10 parents also said public schools should be focusing on core subjects such as reading, writing and math.
During the election campaign, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s more controversial proposals was eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. However, 52% of respondents supported reducing the size and influence of the federal education department.
Although answers were split evenly on whether the department uses its resources appropriately, 77% of parents were in favor of giving states more flexibility.
PDE found a consensus on other hot-button issues as well.
For example, 56% of parents opposed race or ethnicity-based school clubs, as well as hiring teachers based on their race to mirror student demographics. Even more, 82%, agreed a student’s race shouldn’t factor into decisions on discipline.
But the most widely discussed issue in public schools has been the infiltration of the LGBTQ movement into the classroom. Despite the media narrative, parents have shown they don’t want schools meddling with their children’s gender.
An overwhelming majority of respondents (80%) said schools shouldn’t help a student change their gender identity without notifying parents. And 77% said district staff should be required to inform parents if their child uses a different name or pronoun at school.
Furthermore, 74% opposed schools helping a student transition or providing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity to elementary students.
Three out of four parents also agreed biological males shouldn’t be playing on girls’ sports teams, using girls’ restrooms or rooming with fellow students according to their gender identity on overnight trips.
Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at PDE, said the survey proved far-left activists utterly wrong on education.
“This poll shows overwhelming opposition to school personnel withholding information from parents about their child’s gender identity at school,” Sanzi argued. “Policies propagated by activist groups, the National School Boards Association and teachers’ unions all allow for – and often require – the deliberate deception of parents by school staff if that is what the minor child wants.
“It’s refreshing to see even more confirmation that people think this ubiquitous trend of facilitating gender transitions behind the backs of parents is complete madness and needs to stop.”
