School may be out for summer, but the grades keep coming. This time, in the form of marks from a new Texas Southern University study that spoke to more than 1,700 Texans looking at the quality of education.
A study author, Rice University police science professor Mark Jones, said they found Texans think there's room for improvement.
"One thing we found was by and large parents give a good grade, but not a great grade," Jones said.
In public schools, the data shows that half of parents think the quality of their child's classroom is excellent. However, the figures show support drops in the rest of the district and in other public schools across the state.
The study found that the number was nearly double for private school parents compared to public school parents when asked whether the quality of their child's school was excellent.
"It could either be that they're more involved and attentive to their child's education or simply they have more of a dog in the hunt that they've actually made that choice so they're more likely to rate the choice they made as higher," Jones explained.
This year, parents can use taxpayer money for the first time at private schools with the Texas Education Freedom Accounts. It gives parents around $11,000 for private schools.
The comptroller's office said more than 250,000 applied. While that many did, researchers said the new study shows the state should do more to educate parents about the program, as only half are familiar with it.
"The state's done a good job, but it hasn't done a great job in that 57% is not 100% and only 1/5th of the parents say they're very familiar with the TEFA program," Jones said.
Researchers say the data also highlights the struggle districts face with non-parents.
Jones said the data also shows public schools need to do more to win over non-parents. He said people that are needed when districts require voter approval.
The data shows only 15% of Texans rate education in their district as excellent.
"If the public schools are able to do a better job educating non-parents of all the great things that they're doing, then people's attitudes are likely to become more positive, which could help those schools, especially when it comes down to crucial referendum votes," Jones explained.
As far as the voucher program, on Thursday, the comptroller's office announced it plans to start releasing taxpayer money for private school vouchers on July 1. It also received announced a few thousand moved off of the waiting list. However, there are still around 150,000 waiting to see if taxpayer money will head their way.