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

    Parents' responses to the same question differed widely from school board members' answers. Parents were near evenly divided among the "right amount of time" (30 percent), "not enough time" (30 percent), and "too much time" (28 percent). Those responses are a noticeable change from the Fall 2022 poll, in which the plurality of parents (45 percent) said too much time was spent on sex and gender identity.

    Why parental opinion shifted and fractured into different areas is the other half of this story. It may be rooted in changes in school districts, it could reflect the results of the school board elections, or it could be the issues of sex and gender identity just ran their course and parents tired of dealing with them. The answer is beyond the scope of this article, but the issue certainly warrants additional investigation.

    Poll results reveal a sizeable difference (13 percentage points) between parents and school board members over whether schools spent too much time on sex and gender identity (28 percent to 41 percent). There was, however, a dramatic, 17-point decline from last fall in the proportion of parents who thought "too much time" was spent on those topics. It was only the third most popular response among parents in 2023. Despite their near-even split in responses, parents also seemed more certain of their responses (only 12 percent answered "unsure" vs. 17 percent in 2022) than did school board members (31 percent unsure).

    Even without a dominant response among parents to the question of time spent on sex and gender in the schools, there were big differences along political lines, showing how they think differently. The plurality of Republican parents (37 percent) said "too much time" was spent on these issues, the plurality of Democrats (43 percent) thought it was the "right amount of time," and the plurality of Independents (47 percent) thought it was "not enough time."


    What is the best way for schools to address the issue of informing parents about issues regarding their child's gender identity?


    An overwhelming majority of school board members says parents have a right to medical and psychological information, as does a healthy majority of parents, though not as large as last year's majority

    Regarding how schools handle the issue of gender identity, the polls found the views of parents and school board members diverged in several areas.

    Nearly 84 percent of school board members - a very strong number - thought parents have a legal right to all medical and psychological information about their child. It's a position with strong support across the political spectrum, including 93 percent of Republican members, 78 percent of Democratic members, and 83 percent of Independent members. Less than 1 percent of school board members said parents should not be told about a child's decision to transition in case parents might not agree with the child's decision. Approximately 15 percent of school board members were unsure about how they would answer the question.

    Parents were asked a similar question on how schools should inform them about a student's gender identity. Sixty-one percent of parents said schools should be required to share medical and psychological information about their child because parents have a legal right to it. Thirty percent said schools should not be forced to tell parents about gender changes in case parents may not support a child's decision. Nine percent of parents responded "unsure" to the question.

    Two differences emerge from a quick comparison of these responses. First, an overwhelming majority of school board members (84 percent) thought parents have a legal right to all medical and psychological information about their child and thus should be notified about any child's decision to transition. A smaller majority of parents (61 percent, which is still large) agreed. In 2022, however, a much larger majority of parents (87 percent) supported that assertion.

    On the opposite end of the issue, the proportion of school board members who said that school districts should not share this information with parents in case they may not support a child's decision to transition was less than 1 percent. A full 30 percent of parents, however, said that schools should not be forced to tell parents about gender changes (an increase of 7 percentage points from 2022). Along political lines, this assertion was supported by 28 percent of Republican parents, 33 percent of Democrats, and 27 percent of Independents.

    While support for parents' rights remains strong, the significant decline in support for parental rights is a concerning trend.


    Conclusion

    Local school boards are a staple of American democracy. In North Carolina, over 800 board members are elected to serve varying terms on 115 school boards throughout the state. School boards in North Carolina have three major functions: 1) maintain general supervision and control of all functions pertaining to the public schools, 2) enforce and execute school law, and 3) ensure that the administration of schools is done as efficiently and economically as possible.

    It shouldn't be forgotten that school boards are made up of elected individuals, who are ultimately responsible for representing the views of those they serve. In recent years, the job of a school board member has changed dramatically. School boards now suddenly find themselves at the vortex of social change, with many boards thrust into controversial decisions over such topics as school closures, critical race theory, and gender identity.


    This article provides a snapshot of parental sentiment in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 and of the views of school board members in the Spring 2023 as well. Changes in parental sentiment are highlighted. The article also provides areas where the views of parents and school board members converged or diverged regarding a variety of systemic and controversial issues.

    The polls produced some interesting findings:

• Parents were more optimistic about the direction of education in North Carolina than were school board members.
• School board members graded themselves more generously than parents graded them. Parents' grades of local school boards were lower but had improved significantly over 2022.
• School board members and parents still viewed parents as best equipped to decide where and how a child is educated, even though support for parental decision-making had waned considerably since 2022.
• Both groups said classrooms had become more politicized, but school board members did so at a much higher rate (24 percentage points) than did parents. Part of this gap owes to a 13-point drop since 2022 in the proportion of parents who said classrooms had become more politicized.
• Regarding controversial topics, the plurality of school board members thought too much instruction time was spent on topics of sex and gender. A similar plurality of parents thought the same in 2022, but parental support for that response declined 17 percentage points in the last eight months. In the latest poll, parents' thoughts on this issue were split near evenly among whether schools gave these topics the right amount of time, not enough time, or too much time.
• Finally, large majorities of both groups believed parents have a legal right to a child's medical and psychological information and records. Support for this right among school board members (84 percent) was much higher than it was among parents (61 percent). While a healthy number, parental support for this right declined 16 points since last fall. Also, a noteworthy 30 percent of parents thought schools should not be forced to tell parents if their child decides to change genders. Less than 1 percent of school board members agreed with that notion.

    Poll findings suggest the dynamics of Fall 2022 have changed. Parents seemed less upset and frustrated with the public schools. Key indicators of support or opposition on a variety of systemic and controversial issues were markedly lower than they had been when polled last fall. Also notable is that parents were more optimistic about the future. The grades parents awarded school boards for performance improved, and also the intensity levels surrounding the issues of parental rights subsided.