Classroom

The quality and cost of education are issues that are frequently debated by elected officials, parents, educators, and the news media. The impression left in the wake of these exchanges is of an educational system that is, at best, in flux and, at worst, at risk. The 2002 Quality of Life survey asked state residents how they feel about several aspects of their local K–12 schools, public and private.
First, respondents answered questions about local public schools. While one third or more of respondents were not able to offer an opinion on some of these questions, those who did answer express a consistently high level of satisfaction.

Eight out of ten people who rated the overall quality of schools in their area said they were very satisfied (41%) or somewhat satisfied (40%). Two thirds of people answering said they were satisfied with class sizes. Men are more satisfied than women (75% and 64%, respectively, of those providing answers). Similarly, higher-income respondents are more satisfied than those with lower incomes. Three fourths of people with annual incomes of $75,000 or more are satisfied with class size, compared with 61% of those with incomes of less
than $20,000.

More than 40% of respondents with incomes below $20,000 did not volunteer an answer to this question. That’s double the proportion of nonrespondents in the highest income category.
More than three fourths (78%) of those answering said they were satisfied with the quality of instruction in their local schools. Respondents with a college degree were more likely to offer an opinion on this issue and to express more satisfaction than respondents with a high school education or less.

Even more positive were ratings of the overall quality of education students receive in public schools. Eight out of ten people answering said they were satisfied with the overall quality of education. Almost half of all renters (47%) and people 60 years or older (44%) did not offer an opinion, nor did a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds (57%).

Although respondents who offered an opinion are satisfied with each of these primary measures of educational quality, just over half (57%) of those answering report that they are satisfied with teacher salaries and 53% are satisfied with the amount they pay for public education.


Perhaps most significant in terms of understanding the bottom line as state residents look at their quality of life is that, in spite of their high satisfaction with the quality of public schools, fewer than one respondent in five is very satisfied with the services they get for their education dollars, and 39% are somewhat satisfied. This amounts to a 58% satisfaction rating, most of it lukewarm.

Although 54% of respondents could not offer an opinion about private schools in their area, 87% of those who offered an opinion said they were satisfied, and half of them were very satisfied.


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