Annual Poll 2025 - Parents’ and Guardians’ Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle

Annual Poll 2025 presents parents’ and guardians’ perceptions of K-12 public education in New Orleans, focusing on attitudes toward the city’s direction and key civic issues, including crime, poverty, and education priorities. Conducted September 3–13, 2025 with 1,000 Orleans Parish respondents reached mainly by cell phone, the report summarizes demographics, school type, and education outcomes. It highlights optimism about incoming city leadership, mayoral race views, and support for expanded help to public schools on needs such as truancy and transportation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methodology

Demographics

Type of School of Children in Household

Highest Level of Education Completed

Age

Household Income

Race

Gender

Key Findings

The Future of New Orleans and Issues Facing the City

Public Education in New Orleans

ANNUAL POLL 2025 Parents’ and Guardians’Opinions on K-12 Public Education in New Orleans The Cowen Institute October 2025 INTRODUCTION The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls analyze the sentiments of parents and guardians on many vital issues facing New Orleans public education and the City writ large. Typically, the polls are conducted near the start of the school year. Each year, we carry some questions over from previous years’ polls, while others are new and focus on key topics that are contemporaneously relevant. The previous two years, we’ve released the results in two briefs due to the length of the survey. This year, we are releasing all of the poll findings in a single brief as we asked fewer questions than in 2023 and 2024 to ensure we could publish before the fall elections. This report covers those results, including parents’ and guardians’ perceptions on the following issues: The overall direction of the City of New Orleans The upcoming New Orleans mayoral race The major concerns facing the City New Orleans Public Schools ( NOLA-PS) The quality of public education Postsecondary outcomes Since 2020, we have polled 1,000 parents and guardians who have at least one student in their household currently attending a public or private school in Orleans Parish, as well as a small number of those homeschooling their children, to capture a wide range of experiences and attitudes. METHODOLOGY This is the 16th opinion poll on public education in New Orleans published by the Cowen Institute since 2007. The survey items were developed by the Cowen Institute in consultation with LJR Custom Strategies, a strategic research and consulting firm led by Principal Jennifer Johnson. LJR has led our polling over the past seven years. Questions were created by the Cowen Institute in partnership with LJR and feedback from external stakeholders in the New Orleans education community. This was a survey of 1,000 adults who reside in Orleans Paris h and are the parent, guardian, or responsible party for one or more children who currently reside in their household and attend a K-12 school, or are homeschooled. The poll was conducted from September 3-13, 2025 via landline and cell phone — 90% of respondents were reached by cell phone. Findings applying to the 1,000 sample are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1%; subgroups of the sample are subject to an error of up to plus or minus 10%. Also, please note that in places percentages do not add to 100% due to rounding. 2 COWEN INSTITUTE 1 , 000 Parents and Guardians 90% Were Reached by Cell Phone 10% Were Reached by Landline Polling Conducted: September 3-13, 2025 OCTOBER 2025 3 DEMOGRAPHICS To offer more insight into the parents and guardians who responded to this poll, this section presents an overview of the demographics of poll respondents. LJR attempts to produce a sample of respondents that most closely aligns with the overall demographics of the K-12 childage school population in New Orleans as possible. However, it is worth noting that in 2025, we had a higher percentage of parents whose children attend private or parochial schools than in previous years, which enabled us to more closely mirror the breakdown of city students attending non-public schools. TYPE OF SCHOOL OF CHILDREN IN HOUSEHOLD All children attend New Orleans public school All children attend private or parochial schools Some public, some private, parochial or homeschool All of my children are homeschooled Some private or parochial school, some are homeschooled 19% 4% 3% 1% 72% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION COMPLETED Some high school or less High school graduate Some college 2-year/Vocational/Technical graduate 4-year college graduate Postgraduate work or degree Don’t know/refused 7% 15% 23% 19% 9% 2% 25%

FAQs

How was the 2025 poll conducted and what was the sample size?

The poll surveyed 1,000 adults living in Orleans Parish who were parents, guardians, or responsible parties for K-12 students, including some homeschoolers. It was conducted September 3–13, 2025 via landline and cell phone, with 90% reached by cell phone.

What concerns did respondents identify as top issues facing New Orleans?

Respondents most often cited crime and violence as the top concern, followed by poverty and then the economy/jobs and education, which were tied for third.

What did respondents say about support for New Orleans public schools?

There was near universal agreement that city leaders, social services, and the justice system should do more to help public schools, including addressing truancy and transportation.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle