Poll: More than half of parents support limiting Department of Education’s influence

CV NEWS FEED // New polling from Parents Defending Education shows that 52% of parents support reducing the power the U.S. Department of Education has over their children’s education, with 52% of Catholic parents supporting the same measure.

Parents Defending Education is a national nonpartisan organization that combats agendas and politicization in schools. The poll surveyed 1,000 parents in December 2024, asking them about their views on the Department of Education and topics like antisemitism, critical race theory, and gender ideology within the school setting.

In addition to reducing the size and power of the Department of Education, most respondents were also in favor of changing the Department to allow more flexibility over school districts at a state level (77%). Republicans were more likely than Democrats to favor reducing the Department’s influence (67% vs. 29%), and were again more likely to support individual states’ power over schooling (85% vs. 67%).

The poll also provided statistics on Catholic parents’ views on education. Roughly 8 in 10 Catholics supported the Department of Education allowing flexibility in school districts in individual states, and roughly half of total Catholics said that the Department currently uses its resources appropriately. 

Catholics were also unlikely to say that K-12 schools currently do a good job addressing or preventing antisemitism and Jewish discrimination, as only 26% approved. In addition, the majority of Catholics were opposed to practices in schools like “grading for equity” or taking a student’s race into account before handing out a disciplinary measure.  

Most of the total respondents also opposed a number of other hot-button issues, including allowing males who identify as females to play on girls’ sports teams (78%); permitting school teachers or staff to keep information about a student’s “gender identity” private from parents (75%); and allowing students to use bathrooms or locker rooms that do not correspond with their true sex (77%).

Roughly 7 in 10 Catholics opposed allowing schools to keep children’s “gender identity” private, and a similar number opposed biological boys playing on girls’ teams. Fifty-seven percent of Catholic parents opposed students using bathrooms that do not correspond with their true sex.