A survey commissioned by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools shows support for school choice.
The poll questioned mostly white voters. Most were reached via landlines and were outside of Cook County, where the vast majority of Illinois charter schools are located.
But it’s inside Cook County where the support for expanding charter schools was the lowest at 57 percent.
Representative David McSweeney, a Republican from Barrington Hills, says he would support legislation to expand charters because these independently-run schools give families options.
"What this is all about is choice,” McSweeney said. “It's about creating opportunities. This is about competition in the schools. That's what we're for."
Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, held a press conference to announce the results of a survey his organization commissioned on whether Illinois voters favor charter schools. Broy characterized the survey results as overwhelmingly positive.
"This pattern -- support for public school choice, support for charter public schools -- holds across demographic groups in Illinois, it holds across geographic areas of Illinois…it even holds across partisan lines," Broy said.
But nearly 40 percent of the 600 survey respondents said they did not know what a charter school was. The people conducting the surveys explained charters are independently-run public schools that meet the same state standards as public schools.
Governor Bruce Rauner is a long-time supporter of charter schools, which are usually not unionized.
