A large majority — 80 percent — of Maine voters wants public schools to post all curriculum content on public websites so parents can see what’s going on in their children’s classrooms, a Maine Wire / Co/Efficient public opinion survey found this week.
Asked, “Should public schools be required to post education curriculum and materials online, so that parents and legal guardians can see what their children are being taught,” 80 percent of respondents said yes.
92 percent of self-identified conservatives, 78 percent of moderates, and 53 percent of liberals said the content should be placed online.
15 percent of respondents said the schools should not place curriculum materials online.
In terms of party registration, 90 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of Democrats, and 84 percent of unregistered voters said the school materials should be posted online.
The poll results come as Maine schools — and lawmakers in Augusta — debate the extent to which parents should be involved in what happens at public schools.
The issue has surfaced repeatedly in school board meetings across the state, as parents discover that school libraries are promoting hyper-sexualized books and emphasizing programming around gender identity.
Parental concern over the content of public school curricula began to grow during the COVID-19 government lockdowns. As public school kids began to take lessons remotely from home, parents got an inside peek at what’s happening in classrooms, and many didn’t like what they were seeing.
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These survey results come from an exclusive Maine Wire poll conducted of Maine general election voters in partnership with co/efficient, a research and analytics company that has worked on national campaigns, as well as state and congressional campaigns across the country.
The Maine Wire / co/efficient poll was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 1 and included 1,982 likely general election voters. The survey methodology used mobile text-based responses and landline interviews. Results were weighted according to age, gender, education level, and party registration. The poll carries a margin of error of +/- 3.09%.