Colorado parents and guardians with school-age children are evenly split over whether students should be required to wear a mask for in-person learning at K-12 schools, according to a new poll that found views about a range of back-to-school topics divided sharply along partisan lines.
By a slim margin, parents support requiring teachers and staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, with 52% in favor and 45% opposed, according to the survey released Tuesday from Louisville-based Magellan Strategies, a Republican firm.
As students head back to school amid a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic fueled by a virulent delta strain, mask requirements have become a flash point in school districts across the state — a schism reflected by the poll results, which found 48% agreeing with mask mandates for K-12 students, and 50% disagreeing, a statistical tie. Just 2% had no opinion or were unsure.
“The state is literally split down the middle over whether kids should be wearing masks to schools,” said Ryan Winger, Magellan’s director of data analysis and research projects. “It seems like opinions have really hardened, too, especially among Republicans and Democratic partisans.”
Responses fell along party lines, with 83% of Democrats agreeing that masks should be required, and 79% of Republicans disagreeing. Among unaffiliated parents, 43% agree with mask mandates for students and 56% disagree.
The results were almost identical when parents were asked whether high school students should have to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend school in-person, with 47% agreeing and 50% disagreeing. Support among parents drops for a student vaccination requirement for middle school students, with 44% in support and 52% opposing.
Parents in small towns and rural parts of the state were less supportive of student mask mandates and vaccination requirements than parents who live in Denver and suburban areas, the pollsters found.
Gov. Jared Polis and Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the director of the state health department, sent a letter this month to school superintendents asking them to follow “science-based mitigation strategies,” including having unvaccinated people were masks, regular testing for COVID-19 and encouraging sick students and teachers to stay home.
The most recent update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for schools recommends making in-person learning a priority but also taking a multi-pronged approach, including increased ventilation, wearing masks, social distancing and liberal sick-leave policies. Among the CDC recommendations: “universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
Colorado parents gave relatively high marks to the job their local school district did handling the coronavirus pandemic for the 2020-21 school year, with 53% approving and 40% disapproving, but at least half of all parents said they were concerned their children would need additional instruction on core subjects this year.
Fifty-eight percent of parents said they were very or somewhat concerned about their student’s learning last year in math, followed by 57% voicing concern over writing skills, 52% concerned about science, 50% concerned about history and social studies, and 49% concerned about reading skills.
A majority of parents — 56% — said their students’ schools should offer both in-persona and online instruction, while 37% said they believe school should be in-person only.
Parents were closely divided on the right track-wrong track question, with 42% saying they think the public schools in their area are headed the right direction and 39% saying they’re on the wrong track.
Asked if public schools in Colorado are underfunded, 63% of parents said they are and 22% said they aren’t. By a wide majority, 58% of parents said they would support a “modest” tax increase to help fund their local school district and 34% said they wouldn’t.
Turning to another controversial topic, the pollsters found that 7 in 10 parents say they’re at least somewhat familiar with Critical Race Theory.
Asked to define the graduate-level topic, which is sometimes discussed in law school but doesn’t appear to be taught in any public schools in Colorado, respondents described it as a tool for using race to analyze history, while some mentioned it’s based on the notion that racism is built into many institutions. Some called the topic left-wing propaganda and others said it taught discrimination against white people.
Among parents, 45% said they oppose teaching critical race theory in K-12 schools and 37% support teaching it. Predictably, responses divided along party lines, with 71% of Democrats saying they support teaching the topic and 78% of Republicans opposing its teaching. Unaffiliated parents lean toward Republicans, with 49% opposing the teaching and just 29% supporting it.
“It’s all things to all people,” Winger said. “Everyone defines it differently, and for a lot of politicians, it’s become a proxy for things they think shouldn’t be taught in schools.” He added that the poll result show it’s more of an issue among Republicans, though cautioned against either side viewing it as a winning issue “because it’s kind of muddled.”
The pollsters surveyed 516 Colorado parents and guardians with children in grades K-12 from Aug. 9-16 using text-messaging. The poll, which was paid for by the firm, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.31%. Among the parents surveyed, 75% said their student or students attend public school, 12% said charter school, 5% are homeschooled and 5% attend private school, with another 3% saying “other.”
The full poll, including cross tabs and voluminous responses to open-ended questions, can be found at Magellan’s website.
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.
This content was originally published here.
