The Charles Butt Foundation released a 2023 poll on Texans’ attitudes toward public education. The survey’s key findings can be found summarized below. The report in full can be found here.
- Parents are broadly satisfied with the quality of their child’s education.
- There is a gap between parent and non-parent perceptions of school quality.
- The public overwhelmingly supports increasing state funding to boost teacher pay.
- The majority of Texans believe teachers are undervalued by society.
- A vast majority of Texans believe that a teacher has positively impacted their life.
- Most parents are confident in any one measure of their child belonging.
- Two-thirds of public-school parents think there is at least a moderate risk their child might experience some form of bullying, sexual harassment, or discrimination while at school.
- Texans believe the top risks facing students in their communities include cyberbullying, physical bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, and infection from COVID-19.
- Public school parents differ on the usefulness of the standardized STAAR tests in measuring school learning.
- Only one-third of Texans know their local schools’ A-F grades.
- 54% of Texans oppose implementing a voucher program in their community if it meant reducing the amount of funds available to their local public schools and 44% are in support.