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LASR poll results: Supporters of Broad on top in photo finish

LA School Report | October 20, 2015



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OPINION.POLL_Folks, this one was down… to… the… wire!

Our poll asking readers to share their opinions on the Broad Foundation‘s massive charter expansion plan got lots of votes and even some national attention (thank you, Diane Ravitch).

In the end, it was a virtual tie between readers responding with answers that strongly favored the Broad plan, 980, and those strongly not in favor, 977.

Altogether, 2,161 votes were cast although we cannot be sure how many came from the LA Unified community or how many reflected the effort of people who voted more than once.

While it is important to note that our polls are unscientific and just a fun way to take the pulse of our readers, the results here do reflect just how polarizing and controversial the Broad plan could prove to be should it move forward.

The pro-plan voters reflected votes on two choices:

I support the expansion plan because the current way of doing things is not doing a good enough job improving the academic performance of enough students” (693 votes) and “

“I despise this idea because it harms traditional schools by taking money and resources out of the district” (767) and “I don’t believe the charter people are really interested in improving education; I think this is all about weakening the teachers union (210).

A third option, which could be viewed as lukewarm endorsement of the Broad plan, was worded, “If the district paid more attention to improving the quality of existing schools, this idea wouldn’t be necessary,” and received 186 votes.

 

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