Parent satisfaction with American schools has cratered to the lowest level in the survey’s 27-year history, a new poll finds.
Just 32% of adults told Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation researchers they are “completely” or even “somewhat” satisfied with the U.S. Education system this year, the organizations announced Tuesday. That marks an 11-point freefall from 2024 alone, when 43% of adults still expressed satisfaction, and a dramatic plunge from the 51% majority who approved of K-12 schools in 2019.
The downward trajectory has been relentless. Satisfaction slid to 46% in 2021, 42% in 2022, and 36% in 2023 before a brief rebound to 43% last year, only to collapse again. Dissatisfaction now sits at a record-high 67%, moving in near-perfect inverse proportion to the approval numbers over the six-year span.
Jack Schneider, Center for Education Policy director at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, tied the erosion to sustained negative indicators. “It’s terrifying. We’re on the precipice of the dissolution of the public education system as we have known it,” he said.
Academic performance data offers one clear driver. A May study from researchers at Harvard, Dartmouth and Stanford found meaningful reading score improvements in just five of 38 states assessed from 2022 to 2025. Nationwide, students remain roughly half a grade level behind pre-pandemic benchmarks in reading, with math scores showing only marginally better recovery.
“We’ve had a drumbeat of bad news about test scores and other social trends that could be driving this,” Michigan State University political science professor Sarah Reckhow said.
The political climate may be amplifying the pessimism. Since President Trump took office in 2025, satisfaction among Democrats has dropped 19 points — nearly double the 10-point decline among independents and triple the 6-point slip among Republicans. Trump has consistently framed classrooms as a battleground for American ideals, rhetoric that appears to have filtered into partisan perceptions of school quality.
Yet the picture shifts dramatically among those with direct experience. Parents with children currently in the school system registered about 66% satisfaction, far outpacing the general adult population. That figure nonetheless represents the lowest parent approval since 2013, when satisfaction last hovered near two-thirds.
“When people weigh in about the nation’s schools, what they are commenting on are 98,999 schools that they haven’t set foot in,” Schneider noted.
The workforce preparation ratings paint an even grimmer portrait across all respondents. Only 20% of adults rated U.S. Schools as doing an “excellent” or “good” job readying students for employment, a finding that suggests concerns extend well beyond academic metrics to fundamental questions about institutional purpose.
Gallup senior researcher Zach Hrynowski contextualized the education numbers within a broader national souring. “People have a general negative vibe about everything in the country right now,” he said. “People are frustrated, and don’t think any institution is working particularly well.”
The survey was released Tuesday by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation.
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