A much smaller percentage of California residents see education as the most important issue in the state, compared with last year, a survey shows.
Only 9 percent of the 2,500 adults surveyed said education was the most important issue facing the state, compared with 24 percent in 2006. The top-ranked issue this year, at 18 percent, is immigration followed by the economy, at 15 percent, and then education.
But that doesn’t mean the respondents are satisfied with the state’s progress in K-12 in recent years. Eighty percent said the quality of schools is a problem, according to the survey, which was conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, based in San Francisco.
The April 25 poll also shows that Californians are hesitant to support more funding increases for education. Fewer than half of the respondents said they would favor a property-tax increase for local schools, and almost two-third said they would be against the idea of raising state sales taxes to help pay for K-12 schools.
“PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Education” is posted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
