TASB Poll Shows Support for Public Education Funding

Poll: Texans Support Increased Funding for Public Education and Policies To Regulate Educational Savings Accounts

Austin— Texans want lawmakers to increase funding for public schools and teacher salaries while also enacting policies to regulate educational savings accounts if they are passed into law, according to a new poll by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).

When asked about the importance of providing more money to Texas public schools, 77% of poll respondents backed more funding. Public education was also ranked as the highest priority for lawmakers, tied only with border security and illegal immigration.

"A majority of Texans know the importance of investing in public education for a strong economy and prosperous future," said TASB Executive Director Dan Troxell. "They not only value public education, but they want lawmakers to prioritize our teachers and our students by investing more in salaries and allocating more money for school safety."

The poll, conducted by Perception Insight, a Texas-based opinion research firm, also reveals a majority are opposed to providing public tax dollars to families who home school or creating programs that give parents state money to send their kids to private or religious schools.

When specifically asked about their stance on these issues, only 37% were in support.  Those opposed include a majority of voters in urban and rural communities split nearly even between those with children and those without.

The poll of 807 registered voters was conducted on behalf of TASB during the last week of January. Among those responding, 47% reported voting for Republicans most often, 34% indicated a preference for Democrats, and the remaining 19% said they vote independent of party.

In terms of potential policies to regulate educational savings accounts, highest support was found for guaranteeing federal and state protections to all special education students (80% favor) and requiring private & religious schools to publicly report test results, graduation rates, and other performance measures (79% favor).

Also finding majority support in the poll was increasing teacher salaries (89% favor) and increasing funding for school safety (89% favor). That widespread support not only extends across party lines but also among a majority of white, Hispanic, and Black respondents in both urban and rural communities.

"This poll is a comprehensive look at voter sentiment on funding and the top issues affecting public education," said Marc DelSignore, president and owner of Perception Insight. "The broad cross section of voters across all backgrounds and partisanship highlights the key finding that there’s broad support for public education funding, particularly as it relates to teachers and school safety."

When asked about the importance of education issues, poll respondents rated the following as strongly favor or somewhat favor:

• Increasing teacher salaries (89%)
• Increasing funding for school safety (89%)
• Increasing funding for special education (84%)
• Adjusting student funding levels to help schools better manage the impact of inflation (81%)
• Providing tax dollars to families who home school (37%)
• Creating programs that give parents state money to send their kids to private or religious schools (37%)

Other highlights of the poll include areas of support on the topic of parental rights. When asked how lawmakers should prioritize those issues, school safety ranked the highest with 70% of respondents listing it as either the highest or next highest priority. By contrast, giving parents tax dollars to send kids to private or home schools was only listed as the highest or next highest priority by 26% of respondents.

About This Survey

The survey was a live operator and text-to-online poll that interviewed N= 807 registered voters across Texas Jan. 24, 2025-Jan. 30, 2025. The margin of error for the survey results is +/-3.4% at the 95% confidence level.