Positive Views on K-12 Education Coincide with Expanded Options
By Justin Owen
Tennesseans have strong opinions about education in our state. That’s no surprise, as the quality of a child’s education directly impacts their future, economic prospects, and opportunities. For three years, we have tracked the public’s sentiment of K-12 education in the Beacon Poll. We have also delved deeper into education issues in our focus groups of Tennesseans over this same period.
Generally speaking, Tennesseans have a mixed outlook on education. They have been fairly pessimistic about their children’s future when it comes to obtaining access to a good education that sets them up for long-term success. Some seem almost resigned to the fact that a quality education is out of reach for anyone who can’t afford to choose a better option than their zoned public school provides. In fact, prior to last year, almost every quarterly Beacon Poll showed that more voters had a negative view of K-12 education in our state than positive. Negativity was a bipartisan issue: both Republicans and Democrats felt this way.
The tide, however, has begun to turn in the last year. Starting in our April 2025 poll, positive views have eclipsed negative views about K-12 education in every single quarterly poll except the current one. In July 2023, just 36% of voters viewed public education positively, while 56% had a negative view. In the latest poll, while more voters held a negative view of K-12 education (45%) than positive (41%), the trend has definitely moved in a more favorable direction over the past three years.
Perhaps one reason for this is that parents generally feel better about the system than in previous years because they see the system working better for them. Last year, state legislators passed a statewide school choice program known as Education Freedom Scholarships. This allows parents to use a portion of the tax dollars we spend on their child’s education to send them to a private school, rather than requiring them to attend their zoned public school. To date, more than 56,000 families have sought this option.
Even families who keep their child in their zoned public school can feel better about having the mere option to choose otherwise. Indeed, the majority of families are likely to always opt for the public system. But the ability to walk away if that system isn’t working for them is a powerful tool. And for those families who know the public system is not best for their child—maybe they’re being bullied or need specialized services, additional tutoring, or some other customized education—access to other options can be a tremendous lifeline. That’s why, in our latest poll, 78% of Tennessee voters believe that families should have options when it comes to educating their kids. A meager 18% of voters believe families should be required to send their children to their zoned public school. This is not a partisan issue; this view is held by 78% of Republicans, 75% of Democrats, and 81% of Independent voters.
Tennessee is making a growing number of options available to parents, whether it be better-funded public schools, expanded private school choice, quality charter schools, and now, new learning models like micro-schools and pods. It appears the increased access coincides with a more positive outlook about the state of K-12 education in our state. That’s a good thing, because it’s not about protecting the “system” as much as it is about solving each individual child’s needs. And it appears voters greatly appreciate that.