Poll Finds Virginians Willing to Pay More Taxes for Education

The number of people willing to see their taxes raised for additional funding jumped from 54 percent to 67 percent if the money was used to help high-poverty, low-performing schools. Of those respondents, 44 percent said they would prefer if the extra funding went toward increasing teacher pay.

“Funding is always a question that comes up with regards to K-12 education, and this year is no different,” said Robyn McDougle, a professor and interim executive director of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute at VCU.

“What we found this year, and this is actually in support of what we found last year, is that for our citizens in the commonwealth of Virginia, funding is extremely important to the quality of education that occurs in the classroom. And they believe that that funding is truly tied to how the state meets those needs.”

The willingness to pay more in taxes for schools is bipartisan, according to the poll, with 85 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans willing to see taxes raised to maintain funding at current levels.

Along with funding, respondents were asked about charter schools, their support for plans to change high school curriculum, teacher pay, support for mental health services and school safety.

Among the findings:

• 45 percent oppose changing Virginia’s constitution to give charter schools independence from school boards.
• 56 percent are willing to have their child earn some high school credit online. Only 14 percent support their child earning all credits online.
• 78 percent feel their schools are safe or very safe.

The survey was conducted by the policy institute, which is a part of VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

The poll included 806 respondents from across the state. The margin of error is 4.3 percent.

McDougle said the poll was conducted Dec. 1-21.

“It really gives members of the General Assembly and the executive (branch) views about what people are thinking in the commonwealth in close proximity to the start of the session,” she said. “So we feel really good about the way in which we went about asking these questions.”

McDougle said the poll’s authors worked closely with the office of Dietra Trent, the secretary of education, to identify key public policy questions in K-12 education .

Trent said that policymakers should look at the poll to get a pulse of Virginians’ attitudes toward education.

“In Virginia we’re very blessed. Education is a nonpartisan issue,” Trent said of the findings.

“The governor and the legislature have worked together over the last three years on a number of innovative and very creative solutions to education. I was very pleased to see that most of those areas we are working on were affirmed and reaffirmed by this poll.”

Trent said it is encouraging that the public is receptive to the state’s high school redesign.

The redesign is a nearly complete transformation of high schools aimed at getting students better prepared for entering their post-secondary lives.

It includes identifying what skills students need in high school to be better prepared for the workforce or college and then changing statewide graduation requirements to allow the maximum flexibility for students to show they meet those competencies.

The poll found that 77 percent of respondents are supportive of “a transition from focusing on general skills in lower grades to a desired career focus in a student’s final years.”

Trent also was happy to see favorable views on increasing support for teachers and support for getting troubled districts help.

“We’ve done a lot of work in those areas,” Trent said. “But again, this poll just reaffirms that not only does this administration and General Assembly think that’s important, but Virginians as a whole think that’s important.”