Education Law

Who hates NCLB and what voters think of education

Chances are, if you are white and an independent, you're more likely to hate NCLB. That?s a finding from a new national poll. As Campaign K-12 pointed out, it?s no wonder Democratic presidential candidates were attacking the law. It?s probably no surprise that independents tend to think NCLB is hurting public schools because the law has become so politically controversial. Forty percent of independents surveyed said NCLB is hurting public schools, compared with 32 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of Republicans, according to the poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and sponsored by the Public Education Network (see the PowerPoint here).

Among racial groups, 34 percent of whites said NCLB is hurting public schools, compared with 21 percent of blacks and 23 percent of Latinos. Overall, about one third (31 percent) of Americans said the law has hurt and another one third said it has helped. Thirty-eight percent said it has made no difference or that they don?t know.

The poll also asked people to rank the most important issues in their decision in the next president. Even with soaring gas prices and the economic downturn hurting voters? pocketbooks, they still care about education, ranking it third, above health care, taxes, homeland security and budget deficit. Gas price and economy ranked first and second, respectively.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).