PUBLIC SUPPORT

A poll of New York State residents conducted by the Empire Foundation for Policy Research and Zogby International found that "[c]harter schools are favored by better than a three-to-one margin (64.5 percent support to 21.0 percent against). Support for charter schools is strongest in New York City (71.2 percent), among voters aged 18-to-29 (84.8 percent), and with Hispanics (85.6 percent)," ("Zogby Poll Reveals Strong Support for Gov. Pataki's Education Reforms," Empire Foundation for Policy Research, March 1997).

After being told that "[c]harter schools are public schools which are started by either teachers, parents and/or community groups. They are freed from regulations except health and safety and discrimination, and are open to parents by choice," 55 percent of Americans say they would "favor creating charter schools," ("1997 National Survey of Americans' Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform," The Center for Education Reform, November 1999).

A survey conducted by Public Agenda - a non-profit, non-partisan national polling organization -- shows that the more people learned about charter schools, the more they liked them: 68 percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat favored the idea of charter schools. As for different aspects of charter schools, 71 percent of respondents indicated they liked the idea of "more control over hiring and firing employees, including teachers," 59 percent liked that fact that charter schools "can be started by groups of teachers or parents in local areas," and 56 percent liked the idea that charter schools "often focus on a special theme, such as science or art," ("On Thin Ice, " Public Agenda, November 1999).

A majority (62 percent) of Americans say they favor a "charter school program [that] exempts some public schools from certain state regulations and permits them to function independently from the local school district as long as they meet state standards for student achievement," (" NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Education Survey," September 1999)