Americans overwhelmingly oppose school reopenings, data finds
For perhaps the first time in recent history, every school district across the nation is seriously considering the question of whether their institutions should physically reopen in the fall, given the risk of spreading the coronavirus. President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have called for schools to physically reopen. These public declarations have brought mass resistance from K-12 teachers, with many threatening to strike if forced to enter the classroom.
Many teachers are concerned that reopened schools will further spread covid-19. Others worry that Black, LatinX and low-income students will be further disadvantaged by the potential learning losses associated with instruction online only.
The stakes are high and the debate has been highly politicized. Our research asked: What do ordinary Americans think about schools reopening? How does race shape these attitudes?
Here is what we discovered.
Americans don’t want schools to reopen
Between July 30 and Aug. 1, we fielded a nationally representative poll of 1,273 U.S. adults with the survey firm Prolific to assess these questions. The vast majority of our respondents, 62 percent, expressed strong opposition to schools reopening. Only 19 percent felt schools should reopen, and the remaining 19 percent said they were undecided.
Those opinions divide more by race and party. Black Americans were the most likely to oppose reopening schools. Seventy percent of Black Americans oppose reopening schools, a jump from the 57 percent of Whites who do. The gap was largest between Democrats and Republicans, with 74 percent of Democrats opposing the reopening, compared with only 35 percent of Republicans.
Americans, particularly Black and LatinX Americans, fear learning losses
At the same time, most Americans worry students will fall behind in school, perhaps even losing what they’ve already learned. When we asked respondents whether they think learning losses from the pandemic shutdowns will affect children of someone like them, 76 percent said yes, it probably will.
Again, that varies strongly by race. While 73 percent of White respondents took this position, 82 percent of Black Americans and 83 percent of LatinX Americans expect their communities’ children to fall behind in learning.