Press Release

AFT President Randi Weingarten on Gallup Survey Showing Increased Support for Public Education

For Release:

Contact:

Marcus Mrowka
202-531-0689 (cell)
mmrowka@aft.org

WASHINGTON—Statement of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on the Gallup survey showing increased support for public education:

Gallup’s survey showing a significant increase in support for public schools is encouraging, especially in light of the efforts by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other public education deniers to defund, denigrate and privatize public education. And the results for charters reinforce what we’ve seen in other polls showing that the more people have learned about and experience charters, the less they support them. We can continue to strengthen public education and the public’s view of our schools by focusing on what works and what parents, teachers and students want—a safe and secure environment and a focus on children’s well-being, powerful learning, building educators’ capacity, and collaboration.”

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The AFT represents 1.7 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.