Statement by NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant
on
40th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of
the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools
Alexandria, Va. – August 26, 2008 – Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, said the 40th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward Public Schools indicates continued support for K-12 public education.
Overall, the findings of the poll support many of NSBA's priorities, including making major improvements to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (42 percent), supporting the inclusion of growth models and multiple measures of academic achievement to present an accurate picture of school performance (80 percent), and supporting differential or incentive pay for teachers in hard to staff schools (70 percent).
What’s more, not only does the public support public education, but they want it funded by federal government. As school districts continue to face budget shortfalls, it is heartening to know that poll respondents see lack of funding at the top of the list of “biggest problems facing schools” – a point that remains unchanged over the past six years.
Particularly important, as we prepare to elect the country’s next president is the way the public see their leaders and how they expect them to fund and support public education. In fact, poll respondents by an overwhelming majority (77 percent), called on the next president to rely on education leaders for advice about education issues. While this seems a common sense approach, it has hardly been the case in recent years.
And perhaps most encouraging to the National School Boards Association is the fact that the majority of the public continues to rely on local school boards, not the federal or state governments, to decide what is taught in the public schools.
For the complete results of the 2008 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll, please visit www.pdkeducationpoll.org. For more analysis of the poll results, please visit NSBA’s Center for Public Education at www.centerforpubliceducation.org.
Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association is a not-for profit federation of state associations of school boards representing 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education through local school board leadership. NSBA represents the school board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.
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