Poll Says 70% of Americans Support School Vouchers : Education: Catholic educators hold up Gallup study as evidence that the public wants a government-paid system.

Catholic educators, insisting they are not playing politics with an issue over which the presidential candidates clearly differ, released a survey Thursday showing 70% of Americans support a government-paid school voucher system.

“This is not a political issue; it’s a justice issue,” Robert J. Kealey, executive director of the elementary schools department of the National Catholic Educational Assn. told a news conference at which the poll results were released.

The survey of 1,239 adults, conducted July 3-30 by the Gallup Organization, coincided with the Bush Administration’s introduction of voucher legislation on Capitol Hill.

President Bush has proposed a $500-million demonstration project in which parents would be given $1,000 toward education expenses. A full-fledged program would cost tens of billions of dollars. His opponent, Democrat Bill Clinton, strongly opposes the proposal.

An estimated 45 million children attend public elementary and high schools. About 5 million go to private or parochial schools, half of whom attend Catholic schools.

Noting that some nations give parents money to send their children to any school, the survey asked, “Would you like to see such an idea adopted in this country?” Seventy percent of the general population and 80% of Catholics responded favorably.

Asked if they would be willing to see some tax money now given to public schools used to send children to public, private or parochial schools, 61% of the general public said yes, as did 70% of the Catholics.

“What the Gallup survey confirms is a clear desire on the part of the American people to exercise their rights as users of education to determine where their children should attend school,” said Sister Catherine McNamee, president of the NCEA.

The survey results diverge from previous polling that show less support for vouchers.

James Dunn, head of the Baptist Joint Committee and an opponent of the use of federal money to support religious schools, called the use of the “parental choice” rhetoric “disingenuous and dishonest.”

“The ‘choice’ remains that of the private institution,” he said, “to accept or reject. It can make distinctions the public schools cannot.”

Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that since 1966 there have been 18 state referendums on aid to private and religious schools and only one--in South Dakota--has passed.