The gubernatorial election in Virginia earlier this month in which voters elected Republican Bob McDonnell by 17.5 points marked a significant political turn for the state and revealed that the Commonwealth remains committed to our founding principles of limited government and individual rights.
A new survey released today by The Friedman Foundation helps back this up.
Their poll found broad support among Democrats, Republicans and Independents for school choice in Virginia – both in the form of tax-credit scholarships and vouchers. Democrats tended to support tax-credits (64%) even more strongly than vouchers (53%). And broadly speaking Democrats are more likely to favor (43%) rather than oppose (15%) expanding educational freedom.
Similar results were found, more predictably, among Republicans, 46% of whom support tax credit scholarships and 39% of whom favor vouchers.
Paul DiPerna, Research Director for the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, emphasized the “major disconnect between Virginians’ schooling preferences and actual school enrollments.” He stressed, “while 39 percent of K-12 parents say they would like to send their child to a private school, in reality, only about 9 percent of Virginia’s K-12 students attend private schools.”
8% of respondents said they would like to send their child to a charter school. According to the Friedman Foundation, however, currently only three charter schools are in operation in Virginia, serving nearly 190 students.
