Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters believe parents should play a significant role in the curriculum development process. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 23% disagree and 7% are not sure.
Forty-nine percent (49%) believe that parents currently have too little control over the process while 11% believe they have too much control.
Sixty-three percent (63%) of Republicans believe parents have too little control. So do 52% of Independent voters.
As on many issues, there is a significant divide between white and black Democrats. Fifty-four percent (54%) of Black Democrats believe parents have too little control. Just 6% say they have too much control. White Democrats, however, are evenly divided. Just 26% believe parents have too little control while 21% say they have too much of an impact.
Among all voters, 85% believe parents should be allowed to see all curriculum, books, and other materials in classes their children are taking. Just 8% disagree.
Overall, 52% of voters rate public schools in their area as good or excellent. However, just 38% of Black voters offer such a positive assessment.
Over the past year, there have been many reports of protests and conflict between parents and school boards. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 42% of voters generally side with the parents while 28% side with the school boards. Republicans tend to side with the parents by a 59% to 16% margin. Democrats take the opposite view and side with the school boards by a 45% to 26% margin. Among Independents, 39% side with the parents and 21% with the school boards.
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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Question 1:
Should parents be allowed to see all curriculum, books, and other materials in classes their children are taking?
85% Yes
8% No
7% Not sure
Question 2:
Generally speaking, do parents have too much control over what students are taught in school, too little control, or about the right amount of control?
11% Too much
49% Too little
25% About right
14% Not sure
Question 3:
Okay, how significant a role should parents play in the curriculum development process?
30% Very significant
41% Somewhat significant
17% Not very significant
6% Not at all significant
7% Not sure
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on December 16-17, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.