Parents’ satisfaction with U.S. education has plunged since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to polling conducted last month by Gallup.
The survey, which queried American parents with children enrolled in kindergarten through the 12th grade, found that 42 percent of parents are satisfied with U.S. education, down from 51 percent in 2019.
The collapse in confidence in education took place over more than two years of the pandemic in which school boards and teachers’ unions faced backlash from parents for keeping schools closed and indoctrinating students in far-left ideology. Some commentators have attributed the backlash to the rise of virtual learning, which allowed parents to see their children’s class materials.
Americans’ falling confidence in schools is entirely attributable to Republicans’ changing attitudes, Gallup reported. Democrats’ confidence in education has remained stable throughout the pandemic.
Republican Glenn Youngkin last year rode a wave of dissatisfaction with school boards in Virginia’s suburbs to victory in the state’s gubernatorial election after President Joe Biden won the state by a 10-point margin in 2020.
Amid the backlash, parents showed up in large numbers at school board meetings to protest curriculums and school gender policies. Biden’s Justice Department responded by ordering the FBI to investigate parents harassing teachers and school board officials. The National School Boards Association, which wanted law enforcement to investigate parents as domestic terrorists, lobbied the department to make the order.
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