Administered by the international educators organization PDK International, the PDK Poll has surveyed adults from across the nation on the state of K-12 public schools since 1969.
This year’s poll revealed that only 13 percent of approximately 1,000 adults gave the nation’s public schools an A or B grade on a scale ranging from A-F — down from 24 percent in 2016 and the highest rating of 26 percent in 2004.
This year’s poll also revealed rising support for private school choice options — using public funds to send a child to a religious or private school — support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, widespread opposition to President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education and growing opposition to AI and cellphones in the classroom.
The poll comes as Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders expanding school choice options, encouraging the use of artificial intelligence in schools and returning educational control to the states by dismantling the Department of Education.
But despite the Trump administration’s insistence on dismantling the department, the majority of surveyed Americans opposed eliminating the department and believe it would have a negative impact on public education. According to the poll, 66 percent of adults opposed or strongly opposed eliminating the department — including 38 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents and 93 percent of Democrats.
Most respondents — 65 percent — said they believe the department’s elimination would have a negative impact on public schools, including 61 percent of independents and 92 percent of Democrats. Republicans were split, with 39 percent who said they believe the department’s elimination would have a negative impact on public schools, and 38 percent who said they believe it would have a positive impact.
Support for school choice also increased slightly. According to the results, 59 percent of parents said they would send their child to a private or religious school if they were offered at least partial funding — up from 56 percent of parents last year. Across party lines, 71 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of independents and 47 percent of Democrats said they would use public funding to send their child to a private or religious school.
But support for the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom decreased from last year. According to the poll results, 49 percent of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the use of artificial intelligence to prepare teachers’ lesson plans, down from 62 percent last year. Support for the use of AI to tutor students dipped from 65 percent last year to 60 percent in this year’s poll, while support for the use of AI as practice for students taking standardized tests dropped from 64 percent last year to to 54 percent and support for students using artificial intelligence to prepare their homework dropped from 43 percent last year to 38 percent this year.
Respondents’ waning support for artificial intelligence in education comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a partnership earlier this month between the California State University and California Community College systems and leading technology companies — including Google, Adobe, IBM and Microsoft — to provide AI for use by students and faculty. While the partnership focuses on higher education, the agreement for the companies includes the option to provide artificial intelligence programs to high school students and schools.
This year’s poll results also revealed that 40 percent of respondents supported a complete ban on cellphone use throughout the school, while 46 percent supported limiting cellphone use to only at lunch or between classes. Only about 11 percent of respondents did not support a cellphone ban, including 2 percent of Republicans, 11 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats.
Last year, Gov. Newsom signed legislation requiring all California schools to limit smartphone use during the school day by July 2026, citing concerns that students’ smartphone use increases anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. But Bay Area schools have been split on the issue, with some arguing cellphones are necessary for many families and proposed bans don’t make sense in schools that rely on technology to support students’ learning.
The majority of respondents — 61 percent — identified diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives as very important or somewhat in public education, while 23 percent said DEI initiatives are not very important or not at all important. Across party lines, 62 percent of independents and 89 percent of Democrats identified DEI initiatives as important, while 22 percent of Republicans identified DEI initiatives as important and 42 percent of Republicans identified DEI as not important or not very important.
The poll response comes as Trump has sought to eliminate DEI efforts in schools across the country. Since Trump stepped into office in January, his administration has cancelled millions in grant funding for programs and research related to diversity, equity and inclusion, launched an ‘End DEI” portal encouraging school community members to submit reports of sex- and race-based discrimination in K-12 schools and threatened to cut public schools’ funding unless they eliminated all diversity programs and practices.
Among other poll results, respondents identified expanding career and technical education programs, addressing teacher shortages, improving teacher pay and providing security measures to keep students and teachers safe as important issues in public education. The majority of respondents also said providing more control to states and school districts over education policy and funding, educating students about using technology like AI and social media, and making sure students feel like they belong as important issues.
©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
