The Steven S. Hornstein Center sponsored a panel discussion on education policy at the Tilles Atrium on Oct. 29, which drew upon a poll the Center had conducted in September regarding Americans’ attitudes about the controversial issue of school choice.
The survey showed that 63 percent of the respondents favored a school choice system that allowed parents to place their children in either private or parochial schools. But their views were far more mixed on which choice they favored.
“A clear majority of Americans believe that parents should be able to send their children to the school system of their choice,” said Dr. Stanley B. Klein, director of the Hornstein Center. “It was the preferred choice that varied quite dramatically, particularly based on the age bracket that was surveyed.”
The goal of the Hornstein Conversation on Education Policy series is to bring practitioners and policy makers together to discuss the critical issues they’re currently facing, highlighted by the most recent polling data.
Moderating the morning’s conversation at the campus of LIU Post was LIU President Dr. Kimberly R. Cline. Sharing their views were Roger Tilles, a member of the Board of Regents of the New York State Education Department; Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of the Rockville Centre School District; Assemb. Charles “Chuck” D. Lavine (D-Glen Cove); and Dr. Albert Inserra, Dean of the College of Education and Information Technology at LIU Post.
Examining the survey findings, the Generations Institute at Long Island University, an academic center geared towards understanding and improving the lives of younger generations, noted that individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 were just 34.34 percent likely to send their children to public schools, whereas those respondents between the ages of 45 and 60 were 60.58 percent likely to opt for public schools.
Of the 1,045 Americans who participated in the Hornstein survey conducted Sept. 7, 2018, 32.45 percent (340 people) supported increasing the number of charter schools, compared to 19.23 percent (201 people) who wanted fewer charter schools and 17.89 percent (187) who thought there were enough charter schools already. Some 30.33 percent (317 people) had no opinion on this topic. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.
Endowed by prominent LIU alumnus Steven S. Hornstein (Post, ’80), the Steven S. Hornstein Center for Policy, Polling and Analysis at Long Island University is a non-partisan center that conducts independent polling, empirical research and analysis on a wide range of public issues.
