[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-584293-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-584293-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-public-parents-and-k12-education-national-polling-report-issue-64-key-findings","The Public, Parents, and K–12 Education - National Polling Report - Issue 64 - Key Findings","","National Polling Report #64 examines Americans’ and school parents’ views on K–12 education, comparing optimism about local versus national direction, and highlighting differences between grades K–8 and 9–12. Findings show higher state and local optimism, emphasis on core academics and independent thinking, and stronger grade-band priorities for future employment. The report also quantifies substantial underestimation of per-student public school spending and reduced likelihood of saying spending is “too low” when given government-reported statistics. Polling was conducted online and weighted to demographic targets.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-public-parents-and-k12-education-national-polling-report-issue-64-key-findings/584293/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-public-parents-and-k12-education-national-polling-report-issue-64-key-findings/584293.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Kyle","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How do Americans’ views on K–12 education differ between local levels and the national level?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Americans are generally more optimistic about K–12 education’s direction at the state and local level than at the national level.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Which education priorities are most commonly rated as extremely important for grades K–8 and 9–12?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"For grades K–8, core academic subjects lead, while for grades 9–12 skills for future employment are prioritized slightly more than other areas. School parents also emphasize independent thinking for both grade bands.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What do the findings say about public estimates of per-student spending?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The general public and school parents greatly underestimate their state’s per-student spending in public schools. Providing a government-reported spending statistic reduces the tendency to say funding is “too low.”","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},584293,1792208869,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":94,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","The Public, Parents, and K–12 Education  \nNational Polling Report \\#64 March 2026  \n© 2026 Morning Consult. All rights reserved.  \nViews on K-12 Education  \nSchooling and  \nExperiences  \n| | Trust and Political Parties |\n| --- | --- |\n| | K-12 Choice Policies |\n| | Federal Education Tax Credit |\n\nSurvey Profile and Demographics  \n2  \nKEY FINDINGS  \nViews on K-12 Education  \n1. Americans are generally more optimistic about the direction of K-12 education at the state and local level than about education at the national level. Parent optimism about K-12 education is reaching levels that haven’t been seen in over three years.  \n2. More than half of Americans and school parents view core academic subjects as extremely important for grades K-8, while skills for future employment are prioritized slightly more than other areas for grades 9-12. School parents also prioritize independent thinking skills for both K-8 and 9-12.  \n3. The general public and school parents greatly underestimate their state’s per-student spending in public schools. The median estimate for all audiences is over $10,000 less than the national average spending.  \n4. The general public and school parents are over 20 points less likely to say their state’s spending per student in public schools is “too low” when given a publicly reported statistic. Providing respondents with a government-reported spending statistic consistently decreases their tendency to say public school funding is “too low.”  \nMethodology:  \nThese polls were conducted between December 12-15, 2025, January 13-15, 2026, and February 9-12, 2026 among a sample of 2,251, 2,251, and 2,255 adults, respectively. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full surveys have a measure of precision plus or minus 2.07 percentage points.  \n3  \nAmericans are generally more optimistic about the direction of K-12 education at the state and local level than about education at the national level.  \nDo you feel things in K-12 Education are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel things have generally gotten off on the wrong track?  \nAll Adults  \n% Right Direction  \n Local School District  State  Nationwide  \n4  \nOptimism about K-12 education is reaching levels that haven’t been seen in over three years.  \nDo you feel things in K-12 Education are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel things have generally gotten off on the wrong track?  \nSchool Parents  \n% Right Direction  \n Local School District  State  Nationwide  \n70%  \n20%  \n10%  \n0% ~~ ~~  \nJan-20 Jun-20 Nov-20 Apr-21 Sep-21 Feb-22 Jul-22 Dec-22 May-23 Oct-23 Mar-24 Aug-24 Jan-25 Jun-25 Nov-25 Feb-26  \n5  \nMore than half of Americans view core academic subjects as extremely important for grades K- 8. Skills for future employment are prioritized slightly more than other areas for grades 9-12.  \nWhat do you believe should be the main purpose of education during Kindergarten through 8th grade/9th-12th grade? In your opinion, how important is it for students to learn...  \nAll Adults  \n% Extremely Important  \nGrades K-8 Grades 9-12  \nAverage % selected Extremely Important 44% Average % selected Extremely Important 51%  \n Core academic subjects (58%)  Skills for future employment (61%)  \n How to be good citizens (49%)  Core academic subjects (60%)  \n Socialization (49%)  How to be good citizens (54%)  \nTo become independent thinkers (47%)  To become independent thinkers (54%)  \n Skills for future employment (43%)  Socialization (52%)  \n Values, moral character, religious virtues (37%)  Values, moral character, religious virtues (44%)  \n To fix social problems (25%)  To fix social problems (32%)  \nSource: Survey conducted February 9-12, 2026, among U. S. adults  \n6  \nSchool parents prioritize core academic subjects and independent thinking skills for both grade bands, while placing greater ","cbCaiuZzWklPj6ix","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuZzWklPj6ix","pdf",787986,"English","# Key Findings\n## Views on K-12 Education\n## Optimism and Political Context\n## Education Purpose by Grade Band (K-8 vs 9-12)\n## Per-Student Spending Estimates (FY23)\n## Impact of Government-Reported Statistics\n## Methodology and Survey Profile and Demographics","[{\"question\":\"How do Americans’ views on K–12 education differ between local levels and the national level?\",\"answer\":\"Americans are generally more optimistic about K–12 education’s direction at the state and local level than at the national level.\"},{\"question\":\"Which education priorities are most commonly rated as extremely important for grades K–8 and 9–12?\",\"answer\":\"For grades K–8, core academic subjects lead, while for grades 9–12 skills for future employment are prioritized slightly more than other areas. School parents also emphasize independent thinking for both grade bands.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the findings say about public estimates of per-student spending?\",\"answer\":\"The general public and school parents greatly underestimate their state’s per-student spending in public schools. Providing a government-reported spending statistic reduces the tendency to say funding is “too low.”\"}]","The Public, Parents, and K–12 Education - National Polling Report - Issue 64 - Key Findings | PDF",1792050422,176]