Voters have a high opinion of charter and private schools, they just want a level playing field.
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Florida voters aren’t satisfied with the state’s education system, and they believe all schools receiving taxpayer dollars should be accountable to the same standards, whether they are traditional public schools, charters or a private school that accepts vouchers.
That’s the finding in a new poll from Beacon Insights, commissioned by Educated We Stand, a nonpartisan organization that works to safeguard public education. While it’s nonpartisan, the group dubs itself the “anti-Moms for Liberty” group. Moms for Liberty is a conservative movement whose supporters advocate for what they describe as increased parental rights in education.
The survey found that 56% of Florida voters believe public education is headed in the wrong direction, compared with 21% who say it is on the right track.
But the poll found voters craving parity across all schools that receive taxpayer funding, with 77% saying charter schools and private schools that accept school vouchers should be held to the same standards as traditional public schools, including on teacher certification, student testing and class curricula, and that they should all be subject to public audits of spending.
Only 18% support charter and voucher-receiving private schools creating their own curricula, or establishing their own hiring and student testing policies.
Perhaps the most important takeaway is that, despite their views on creating a level playing field, Floridians view charter schools and private schools that accept school vouchers favorably, with net favorability ratings of 23.5 and 18 percentage points, respectively.
What the poll indicates, rather, is that Floridians take issue with having a different set of rules between education institutions.
The findings come as Florida continues to serve as a national example of school choice programs, including the recent approval of a universal school voucher program that allows families to receive school vouchers regardless of household income.
The poll found overwhelming support for increasing teacher and support staff pay, with nearly 94% of respondents saying the state should increase education funding to support higher salaries. That includes 75% who said they strongly support pay bumps.
Meanwhile, respondents reported being concerned about staffing shortages, with 85% describing it as a serious problem, including 65% who said it was a very serious problem.
Florida ranks 50th in teacher pay among all 50 U.S. states and the nation’s capital, according to the Florida Education Association. This was the third year in a row Florida ranked second-to-last in that metric.
Meanwhile, the Beacon Insights poll also found Floridians more likely to support redirecting school voucher funding back to traditional neighborhood public schools, 54% to 39%. Respondents also largely rejected co-location, a recent policy shift that allows charter schools, which are sometimes for-profit, to operate within an existing public school without requiring compensation for use of the space. There, nearly 62% oppose requiring public schools to share space with charters, while fewer than 25% support co-location.
Other topics addressed in the survey include book bans, politics in the classroom and student cellphone use.
On book bans, 63% of survey respondents said education officials are removing too many books from schools, thus restricting students’ reading opportunities.
Keeping politics out of the classroom was the most chosen option when respondents were asked about their top education priority, with more than 22% selecting it. Raising teacher pay was the next-highest selected option.
And a majority of poll respondents said teachers and principals should set student cellphone policies, rather than a full state ban, with nearly 52% favoring locally selected policies compared with just 37% who support a full ban on student cellphone use in school.
The survey was conducted Aug. 13-17 among 616 Florida registered voters. It has a margin of error of 4.62 percentage points.
The post Poll: Florida voters favor higher teacher pay, parity among public, charter and voucher-receiving private schools appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
