About half of adults think their local public schools are doing an excellent or good job in preparing students for jobs and the workforce, according to a recent survey of Californian’s views on education conducted between March 26 and April 3 by the Public Policy Institute of California.
The results provide a snapshot of how voters feel about the direction public education is headed and various policies affecting local schools, as well as the challenges faced by the state’s TK-12 education system.
Overall, about half of those surveyed said the state’s public education system is headed in the right direction, while the other half said the quality of education has gotten worse in the past few years and believe that major changes are needed in California’s public schools.
More than 80 percent of adults and public school parents say that the quality of education in California’s TK-12 public schools is a problem, including 37 percent of adults and 32 percent of parents who say it is a big problem.
Yet, while most adults and public school parents say the state’s public education system is in need of change, many view their local school systems favorably. When asked to rate the quality of their local public schools using a letter grade, 11 percent of adults and 17 percent of public school parents gave their local schools an A, followed by 32 percent of adults and 36 percent of parents who assigned a B, a C (35 percent of adults, 30 percent of parents), a D (11 percent of adults, 8 percent of parents) or F (7 percent of adults and parents respectively).
“Today, majorities of adults and public school parents say their local public schools are doing an excellent or good job preparing students for college (adults: 10 percent excellent, 47 percent good; public school parents: 15 percent excellent, 52 percent good),” the report states. “Asian Americans (66 percent) are more likely to hold this view than Latinos (57 percent), whites (53 percent), and African Americans (52 percent). While majorities across all regions share this opinion, the highest levels of confidence are in Orange/San Diego. When asked how local public schools are doing in preparing students for jobs and the workforce, about half of adults (6 percent excellent, 42 percent good) and six in ten public school parents (10 percent excellent, 49 percent good) express positive opinions. Today, views vary slightly across demographic groups and regions, with Asian Americans (60 percent) and college graduates (58 percent) being the most positive.”
Among other key findings:
- Nearly half of survey respondents said teachers’ salaries as compared to their cost of living are a big problem; 61 percent support public school teachers striking for higher pay; 60 percent are concerned about declining school enrollment and chronic absenteeism in their local public schools; and 67 percent are worried about the impacts of increased immigration enforcement efforts on undocumented students and their families.
- Close to 70 percent of Californians are in favor of state-funded universal transitional kindergarten (TK) for all 4-year-olds, with “overwhelming majorities” of both adults and public school parents agreeing that attending TK is important to a student’s success in grades K-12. About 60 percent of public school parents said their local schools have raised awareness about the availability and benefits of TK.
- Regarding policy, about 70 percent of adults and public school parents said they favor their public school district designating itself as a “safe zone” from federal immigration enforcement efforts; and in regarding to Assembly Bill 3216 — known as the Phone-Free School Act — 52 percent of parents with school-aged children reported preferring policies that allow no cellphone usage in classes but permit use at lunch or between classes, while 40 percent said they prefer a ban on cellphone usage throughout the school day.
