State Residents' Respect for Teachers, Support Staff is Growing, Survey Finds
The respect that Wisconsin citizens feel for public
school teachers and education support professionals continues to increase,
according to a new survey.
| What two respondents said about Wisconsin's public school
teachers: “The best. Public school teachers work long, hard hours,
make far less money, and they have the most influence on little
children. They sometimes are with kids more than their parents,
and they teach all kids. The private schools, if they don't want
kids, they just dump them onto the public schools.” “They are trying, but the teachers cannot teach until the
students are ready to learn. They do the best they are allowed
to in the system, but all the rules and regulations make it hard.”
|
Seventy-seven percent of Wisconsin residents gave
the state's public school teachers a positive rating in the new survey,
up from 73% in 2002 and 66% in 1998. Sixty-nine percent gave a positive
rating to school support staff such as teacher aides, secretaries, bus
drivers, cooks and custodians. That is up from 66% in 2002.
In addition, the public's perception of public schools
is rising, according to the survey. When asked, "Which kind of
school would do a better job teaching students the basics of reading,
writing and math?," 42% picked public schools, compared to 31%
for private schools. Those numbers are considerably up from 1998, when
23% picked public schools and 38% picked private schools. (The remainder
picked "other" or "don't know.")
The survey, commissioned by WEAC and conducted by
Richard Day Research of Evanston, Illinois, also found sharply declining
support for private school vouchers. Those who said a statewide school
voucher system was a good idea fell from 61% in 1998 to 51% in 2002
to 44% in the most recent survey. Those saying it was a bad idea increased
from 30% in 1998 to 39% in 2002 to 48% this year.
Residents overwhelmingly want any school that receives
state vouchers to play by the same rules as public schools. Among residents
who thought vouchers were a good idea, nearly all (96%) supported at
least one requirement for private schools that accept state voucher
money.
In other survey findings:
- More than half of the respondents (54%) said they believe state
tax spending for public schools should be increased. That is up from
39% in 2002. More than one-third (35%) believe it should remain the
same, while only 9% said school funding should decrease.
- Residents expressed strong feelings against making further cuts
in school budgets. Presented with a list of possible cuts, there was
strong opposition to making cuts in virtually all programs, ranging
from 57% opposing cuts in extracurricular activities to 80% opposing
cuts in special education.
- Excellent schools are seen as the most important component in maintaining
or increasing property values or the quality of a neighborhood. It
was the most highly rated factor - even above neighborhood safety
- and was chosen by 30% as having the greatest impact on property
values from a list of five choices. (Low taxes were ranked most important
by 14%.)
- 62% gave their local schools an A or a B, with another 23% giving
them a C. Only 10% graded their local schools below a C.
The poll was based on a statewide sample of 604 Wisconsin
heads of household, surveyed by telephone between December 27, 2004,
and January 6, 2005.
Survey summary
and charts (this links open a slide presentation)
Posted January 26, 2005