What We Learned from Polls of Parents and School Board Members | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It's worth noting that the grades parents awarded to school boards improved significantly in 2023. In 2022, only 32 percent of grades were A's (9%) or B's (23%), compared to 57 percent in 2023. Coincidentally, the percentage of middle and low grades given by parents declined from the previous year: C's (24 percent vs. 38 percent in 2022), D's (going from 15 percent to 8 percent), and F's (falling from 9 percent to 3 percent).


    Who is best suited to determine how and where a child is educated?

    Parents and school board members alike said parents are best suited to determine how and where a child is educated, but support for parents making educational decisions waned in 2023

    We know where a child is educated significantly influences educational outcomes. Our polls asked school board members and parents who are best equipped to decide where a child goes to school.

    Parents/Guardians was the most popular answer for both groups. Fifty percent of school board members chose parents/guardians, with strong support from Republican (58 percent) and Independent (65 percent) members. Support among Democrats was split three ways, with parents/guardians (35 percent) having a plurality. Among the other options, 27 percent of school board members opted for the local school board, and only 14 percent chose the State Board of Education. Only 5 percent apiece said the school principle or were unsure, and none opted for the state legislature.

    When asked a similar question, 45 percent of parents chose parents/guardians as the most popular answer. The other options received small levels of support: the State Board of Education (18 percent), state legislature (11 percent), school principal (10 percent), local school board (9 percent), and unsure (7 percent).

    While parents/guardians remained the most popular response among both groups, part of the story is how parental opinion changed from 2022 to 2023. Parental support for the option parent/guardians declined 11 points from the previous year. The second most popular option remained different for both groups. Twenty-seven percent of school board members selected the local school board, while 18 percent of parents chose the State Board of Education. As the top two parental responses for 2023 declined 11 and six points from 2022 levels, some parents added support for the state legislature (up 8 percentage points) and the school principal (up 7 percentage points).

    What does it all mean? Support for parental decision-making far outweighed the other options in each poll. However, the strength of that support has waned in the past year. Whether that strength rebounds or takes another shape will have great impact on schools and how they are governed.


    Our polls also asked parents and school board members about more controversial topics, such as politics in the classroom, gender identity, and access to a child's medical information.


    Have classrooms become more politicized in the last five years?

    School board members strongly believe classroom instruction is more politicized, as do parents, though to a lesser degree than in 2022

    A high percentage of school board members (83 percent) said K-12 instruction had become more political in the last five years. This finding spanned political and racial categories: 89 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Democrats, 87 percent of Independents, and also 84 percent of whites and 79 percent of blacks. On the other hand, less than 2 percent of school board members said classroom instruction had become less political, and about 11 percent thought the level of politicization was unchanged.

    When parents were asked the same question, a considerably lower percentage of respondents - 59 percent - said classroom instruction had become more political. In addition, 14 percent of parents said classroom instruction was less political, and over one in five respondents (21 percent) thought classroom instruction was neither more nor less political. Those numbers are significant for a variety of reasons. The percentage of parents thinking classroom instruction was more political had declined 13 percentage points from September 2022 (from 72 percent), and those thinking it had gotten less political had increased by 6 percentage points (from 8 percent).

    Poll results revealed stark differences between parents and school board members over how they perceived politicization in the classroom. While 83 percent of school board members agreed classroom instruction had become more political, only 59 percent of parents thought the same - a hefty difference of 24 percentage points.


    Do you agree with how schools handle issues of sex and gender identity?

    The plurality of school board members thinks too much time is spent on sex and gender identity, but the plurality of parents no longer thinks too much time is spent on those topics


    Asked their views on how schools are handling the topics of sexual preference and gender identity, a plurality of school board members (41 percent) said "too much time" is given to these topics. A strong majority (71 percent) of Republicans and the plurality of Independents (39 percent) thought too much time was spent on those topics, but only 8 percent of Democratic members did. Conversely, a plurality of Democrats (43 percent) thought schools spent the right amount of time on sexual preference and gender identity. The second most popular response among school board members was "unsure" with 31 percent, an unusual percentage for the category. Another 21 percent said "the right amount of time," while only 6 percent thought "not enough time" was being spent on those topics.