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Yesterday, my colleagues at EdChoice released the 7th edition of our annual Schooling in America survey. It contains lots of interesting bits of information about American opinions on a variety of education policies, from school choice to technology in the classroom.
One section that stood out for me described attitudes regarding busing.
Back in June, the legacy of busing students to integrate schools shot back into the spotlight when U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris called former Vice President Joe Biden out for his opposition to busing programs in the 1970s. At the time, Biden referred to busing as “racist” and “asinine” and later referred to it as “a liberal train wreck.”
Where does America stand on busing? My colleagues performed what is known in the business as a “split-sample” wording experiment, where they asked different people different variations of the same general question. One group got the question, “In general, do you favor or oppose the busing of school children from one school district to another?” The second got, “In general, do you favor or oppose the busing of school children from one school district to another for racial and economic integration?” and the third group got, “In general, do you favor or oppose the mandatory busing of school children from one school district to another for racial and economic integration?”
America appears split down the middle on busing. In the general population, it is a 50% to 49% split in favor of busing with no additional explanation. That slides to 42% supporting to 55% opposing when the language regarding racial and economic integration is included and slides to only 41% supportive to 58% opposed when it is described as mandatory.
But busing would not affect all Americans equally. My colleagues were also able to collect a representative sample of current school parents and current public school teachers, the two groups that would be most affected by busing plans. Their responses are fascinating.
Current school parents are more supportive of busing than the general public. When asked the generic busing question, they support busing 51% to 46%. When busing is for racial or economic integration, they oppose it, but at a lesser rate than the general public (parents are split 47% supporting to 53% opposing). This pattern remains essentially unchanged even when busing is mandatory.
Public school teachers, on the other hand, oppose busing in all of its incarnations and at a rate far greater the general public. When asked in generic terms, 63% of teachers are opposed and only 37% are supportive. Make the question about racial and economic integration and support erodes further, with 63% opposing and 36% supporting. Make it mandatory and a whopping 65% oppose and only 35% support.
To be totally honest, this result surprised me. I would have guessed, perhaps prejudicially, that parents would be the most opposed and teachers would be the most supportive. I got it exactly backwards.
So what does this mean for the potential for busing programs to combat segregation? It doesn’t look good. Its hard to see these programs getting enacted, or succeeding if they are enacted, without the support of educators. This is not a topic that teachers don’t understand. They just don’t like it. It is hard to see a path forward.
