Election 2022

Since it’s Election Day, we’re sharing some final voter education resources. If you haven’t voted yet, please do so today!

What’s at stake for N.C. voters  in the 2022 Election?

Here’s a recap from EdNC:

Voters this year will get the chance to choose their state lawmakers, two Supreme Court and four Court of Appeals judges, and various local judges, sheriffs, and county commissioners across the state. Voters will also pick someone to serve in one U.S. Senate seat, and 14 U.S. House seats.

Voter education resources for N.C. charter supporters

The Coalition has a number of nonpartisan resources to educate voters about the candidates and public charter schools. You can find our list of recommended candidates here. These are candidates seeking N.C. General Assembly seats who support the Coalition’s goals of charter autonomy and fair funding. Wonder how the Coalition chose candidates to recommend? See our Guidelines for Candidate Recommendations, approved by the Coalition Board. We also encourage you to view the responses of more than 100 candidates to our charter questionnaire. Find responses here.

Resources from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has a new resource out in time for the midterm elections. It’s an education voters’ guide and it highlights parent power at the ballot box this year.

View the 2022 Education Voters’ Guide

What can you expect to find in the 2022 voters’ guide? First, you’ll see poll findings from a recent survey of parents. From the Alliance:

Parents, regardless of political affiliation, report that they support and want more public charter schools in their area. According to The Harris Poll, 82% of respondents across the political spectrum said they would be willing to vote for someone outside their political party if the candidate shared matching views on education issues. And 83% of parents agree that education has become a more important issue to them than it was in the past.

Next, the page provides information from a recent Alliance report about how the pandemic has reshaped parent perspectives. Parents, the report notes, are “never going back” to the way things were pre-pandemic. Finally, the page includes ways to learn more about public charter schools, including links to FAQs. The Alliance has also created a new website with easy ways to check voter registration status, polling location, and more. Find that here.

#ParentsVote and the upcoming Social Media Day of Action

On September 30, the Alliance launched a social media day of action, with another one planned for Tuesday, October 18. The Alliance is asking charter supporters to post a tweet at 12 noon on October 18 using the hashtag #ParentsVote. The organization is also running a new digital ad in select urban markets, including Charlotte. See the ad on the power of parent voters below.

A voter guide, featuring candidates who support public charter schools

Public charter schools are part of the public school family. These candidates support public charter schools so that all families, not just the select few, can have a choice in their children’s schooling. If you care about education and school choice, we recommend you support these candidates.

A new report reveals how powerfully the pandemic has shaped views on K-12 education and voting among parents. “Never Going Back,” released today by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, includes polling data from over 5,000 parents of school-age children. Post-pandemic, parents are highly invested in education. They’re also motivated to support the political candidates who most closely represent their views. In fact, more than 8 in 10 say they’d vote outside their party, if warranted. (Read the Alliance’s press release.)

What else? The pandemic has reconfigured key sentiments about education in addition to school enrollments. Key report findings are below.

Politically, education is rising in importance

Parents care a great deal about education as a political issue, the Alliance report found.

• Candidates’ views on education have the capacity to sway parent voters. 82% of parents are willing to vote outside their party if a candidate’s views on education align with their own.
• Education is growing in importance as a political issue. 83% of parents view education as more important now.
• For committed parent voters, education is ascendant. Among issues, only taxes topped education for parents who vote in both federal and state/local elections.

Screenshot from: “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education,” National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, August 24, 2022.

Most parents support choice and charter schools

School choice and public charter schools are popular among parents. In fact, even parents who don’t choose charter schools for their children want other parents to have that choice.

• Support for educational choice is high. 86% of parents want options for their children other than the local district school.
• Parents favor the growth of public charter schools. 77% want more local charter schools. Moreover, 81% support expanding seats in existing local charter schools.
• Charter schools have earned credibility with non-charter parents. “Even among those who might not choose a charter school for their child, 84% agree that charter schools should be available to families who would choose them,” the report notes.

The pandemic introduced powerful changes in parents’ views on education

Parents have become more engaged in their child’s education. In addition, they’re more interested.

• Parent engagement is ticking up. 78% of parents “became more involved in their child’s education because of what they saw during the pandemic,” the Alliance said.
• Interest in education is also increasing. 79% of parents became more interested in their child’s education because of the pandemic.
• Safety is top of mind. In fact, safety is even more important to parents than school quality. 77% of parents said school safety was “absolutely essential.” Moreover, 59% said school safety grew in importance to them during the pandemic.

Screenshot from: “Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education.”

Lindalyn Kakadelis, the executive director of the Coalition, said, “This report tells us parents want and deserve options for their children’s schooling, and they’re willing to vote across party lines to get it. Public charter schools remain wildly popular as a free, public alternative to traditional zoned schools that are open to everybody.”

Access the Coalition’s press release.

“The education voter is the new swing voter.” That’s the assessment from Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, of what new poll findings show about the growing power of education at the ballot box. The Alliance commissioned Harris Poll to conduct the survey of 5,000 parents of K-12 schoolchildren nationwide. Full poll findings are coming later this summer–but the Alliance released a sneak peek memo earlier this week to coincide with its 2022 National Charter Schools Conference. Harris Poll queried parents between May 19-31, 2022. Key findings are below.

Education is becoming more important to parents than political party

Parents are very focused on education as they head into the fall–and its importance to them has grown. In fact, more than 8 in 10 parents, or 83%, say education “has become a more important political issue to them than it was in the past.”

Parents who vote in both federal and state/local elections rank education as the second most important issue to them, behind only taxes.

Moreover, parents indicate that education could be even more predictive than political party in deciding how they vote. For instance, 82% say they “would be willing to vote outside their political party based on the candidate’s education platform.”

Here’s the screenshot from the Alliance poll infographic:

Screenshot from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Infographic: “Is the ‘Education Voter’ the New Swing Voter?”

Most parents want more public charter schools

About three in four parents from the Alliance poll say they:

Read the press release from the Alliance about the polling memo.

Watch the Alliance’s full panel discussion from this week, “Numbers Don’t Lie,” to learn more about polling data on charters and school choice.