FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Tessa Benavides
First-of-its-kind Poll Reveals Texans Trust Teachers, and Have Concerns About School Testing and Funding
AUSTIN, TX (February 20, 2020) The Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation has released a first-of-its kind statewide poll about Texans’ attitudes toward public education. Notable findings include Texans appreciate teachers, but have concerns about testing and the lack of funding for schools. The poll found that 77 percent of Texans express trust and confidence in their teachers, much higher than the 61 percent of Americans polled on the same question.
The poll was released during a press conference this morning. There is footage from today’s press conference available in both English and Spanish for any future use:https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/2020-poll-resources/.
Names of those participating in the press conference:
- English
- Dr. Shari Albright, President, Raise Your Hand Texas
- Gary Langer, President, Langer Research Associates
- Spanish
- Max Rombardo, Research Associate, Raise Your Hand Texas
The Foundation modeled the poll after the longstanding national PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Langer Research Associates, PDK’s polling firm and the producer of the weekly Washington Post–ABC News poll, conducted the research.
View our comprehensive digital media kit here: https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/2020-poll-resources/. It includes b-roll and photos for media use, as well as downloadable copies of the full poll report and toplines.
———————————————————
First-of-its-kind Poll Reveals Texans Trust Teachers, and Have Concerns About School Testing and Funding
– Inaugural “PDK of Texas” poll highlights statewide perceptions
on key public education topics –
AUSTIN, TX (February 18, 2020) — A new statewide poll on Texans’ attitudes toward public education found they appreciate teachers, but have concerns about testing and the lack of funding for schools.
The poll, commissioned by the non-profit Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation, found that 77 percent of Texans express trust and confidence in their teachers, much higher than the 61 percent of Americans polled on the same question.
The Foundation modeled the poll after the longstanding nationalPDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Langer Research Associates, PDK’s polling firm and the producer of the weekly Washington Post-ABC News poll, conducted the research.
“We’re pleased to be the first organization in the country to commit to an annual statewide poll about public education issues,” Foundation President Shari Albright said. “The work of PDK is the most respected in the field, providing insight into the perceptions and trends in Americans’ attitudes toward public education. We thought it important to provide this service to Texans on an annual basis, both to understand the challenges and help find ways to improve our public schools.”
“Kudos to Raise Your Hand Texas for conducting this poll,” said Dr. Joshua Starr, Chief Executive Officer of PDK International. “Like most Americans, Texans want more funding for schools, support their teachers, have concerns about testing, and want more attention paid to student social-emotional competencies. And, while there are some different perspectives based on income, geography, and race, there’s no doubt that Texans, like most Americans, support their local schools and want to see an increased investment in them.”
Other major findings show that, while teachers are important to school quality, Texans believe they are undervalued. The poll also found:
- 93 percent of Texans say teacher quality is extremely or very important in overall school quality
- 71 percent see teachers as undervalued in society
- 70 percent say teacher pay is too low
- 60 percent are not confident that state standardized tests effectively measure how well a student is learning
- 59 percent believe their community’s public schools have too little money
When rating public schools as a whole, the more closely connected respondents are to a school, the higher they rate it, a trend reflected in the national research. The poll found 68 percent of Texas parents would give their oldest child’s campus an A or B grade. Overall, 48 percent of Texas gave the schools in their community an A or B grade, higher than the 44 percent of Americans who give their community’s schools the same high marks.
“This poll reflects positive sentiment toward our public schools,” Albright said. “The challenge is in ensuring schools have the resources they need to educate every child, starting with a well-trained teacher in every classroom and a strong leader on every campus. We must also ensure students and schools are assessed fairly. Though we still have work to do, I am confident Texas is moving in the right direction.”
# # #
They should do a poll and ask people if they trust politicians.
Oh wait, they already have — and most people don’t (especially not ones from Texas)
I sometimes wonder how this would have gone if instead of attacking public schools to gain market share ed reformers had supported public schools along with charters and vouchers.
The “movement” is jam-packed with political professionals. Seems like one of them would have advised against making the schools 90% of families attend “the enemy”.
A backlash was inevitable. They don’t do any advocacy or support of public school students. Public school families are completely justified in seeking advocates for their schools and families.
If charter and private schools and students can have advocates, public schools and students can have advocates too. It was never fair that ed reform provided passionate advocates for charters and vouchers but the best public school students ever got were the weak and ineffective “agnostics”. That’s obviously inequitable treatment. It’s support for charters and vouchers versus a grudging allowance that public schools may continue to exist.
People are entitled to insist that the public employees in federal and state government return some benefit to their (public) existing schools. That’s allowed. It’s the minimum.
Deformers could not have taken the approach you wonder about because greatly increasing the number of charters and vouchers DEPENDs wholey on convincing the public that public schools are bad. If they claimed they supported public schools, most people!e would not buy into the need for charters and vouchers.
there’s the rub: it has never been about ‘bad’ schools
Texas has a robust diversified economy. While oil and gas remain strong, manufacturing, ranching, agriculture, chemical production and medicine are all important contributors. Texans realize they need scientists in order to maintain the expanding economy. Texans have been smart enough to eschew the black hole of vouchers that lead to nowhere worthwhile. The future of the state requires an educated populace.
My grandson is in fourth grade in a suburban Houston public school. Last year my daughter ran into my grandson’s third grade teacher at the local H-E-B supermarket where she was working at a second job as a cashier. Teachers deserve to be paid a living wage.
The Texas legislature is dominated by old, white men that would like to go back to the 1950s. Texas is undergoing tremendous changes. These old white guys are holding on to power and refusing the acknowledge that the new Texas is younger, educated and browner. It is time for a change.
It’s such an echo chamber they don’t even notice how anti-public school it is- and how this anti-public school position has migrated to being anti-public school STUDENT.
It’s a big country. Betsy DeVos really believes every public school student is a bullying, possibly drug-addicted low performer who we all must “escape” from? Because that is her sole depiction of public school students in her speeches. I know she didn’t attend public schools but she IS aware that the vast,vast majority of Americans did, right?
I smile when they all rant and rave about “government schools”. There are vast swathes of this country where Republicans run every branch of local government, including school boards. These “government school leaders” DeVos spends every workday trashing? They’re her co-partisans where I live. They’re small businesspeople or retirees and I would wager that 70% of our school board voted for Donald Trump which shouldn’t surprise anyone- this is a conservative area. It’s just nutty.
Should the public be able to insist that Ohio’s lawmakers spend SOME time and effort on the schools 90% of families in the state attend?
They got absolutely nothing done for public schools in the 2019/20 session. There’s a reason for that- the entire policy agenda was driven by ed reformers pushing vouchers. We’re now in the ridiculous situation where they will spend all of 2020 “fixing” the voucher expansion they jammed thru in 2019.
This is capture. They simply do not work for public school students and families in this state. They return no value and they often HARM public school students, as they did with the massive voucher expansion.
In a state where 90% of people use the public schools how did it happen that the 3% who use or seek vouchers captured my entire state legislature, to the extent that they have no completed ANY of the work they’re required to do for public schools?
I don’t want to pay 5000 public employees in Columbus for this. I think it’s pure politics. The ed reform billionaires can pay these people for this- the public in Ohio shouldn’t have to. Do your jobs. I get that you’re ideologically opposed to public schools.I don’t care. No one hired you to work AGAINST 90% of schools and students.
A few months ago Hispanics and/or Latinos became the majority in a historic population shift in Texas. If that segment of Texas’s population votes in 2020, they could flip the state from red to blue.
“Trump is in trouble in Texas”
Texas Turns blue”
Texas turning blue?
And Hell is freezing too
And Heaven closes gates
To Jesus, so he waits
:o)
Dante’s last level of Hell is frozen solid. According to Dante, it is not hot where Lucifer lives. It is cold, really cold.