The great thing in Ohio is that all week I've heard that a recent survey says voters want no more state cuts in Education and by a 3-1 margin would consider voting out their own representative if he votes for cuts. I'm sure that can be translated to national. So at least here in Ohio things are on the upswing, hopefully.
Here's the article and link (Highlighted the survey results)
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Ohioans Value Education, Ranking it Above Other State Spending Priorities
Thursday September 16, 9:30 am ET
KnowledgeWorks Foundation releases fourth Ohio's Education Matters poll
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Ohioans believe that education is essential to a democratic society and healthy economy and want it to be the state's top spending priority, according to results of the statewide Ohio's Education Matters Poll.
"This poll tells us the public in this state values education and sees its connection to the well-being of our state and nation," said Chad P. Wick, president & CEO of KnowledgeWorks Foundation, which conducted the Poll. "Unfortunately, despite good intentions and hard work, we don't yet have the educational system that reflects those values."
KnowledgeWorks Foundation released the poll today in a news conference at the State Capitol. The telephone poll of 800 Ohioans was conducted in June for the Foundation by Triad Research Group of Cleveland. It has a margin of error of +/-3.46 percentage points.
[COLOR=Lime]The value Ohioans place on education comes across through the following poll results:
* Ninety-six percent of Ohioans agree that education is essential for a
democratic society and a healthy economy.
* Nearly 94% of Ohioans agree that they would protect and defend
education as they would freedom.
* Ninety-six percent agree that education is a public good that benefits
everyone, and nearly 89% agree it is important for all children to have
the opportunity to attend college.
* Nearly 80% of Ohioans say the state should spend more on education, far
surpassing other spending areas such as health care for the poor and
elderly, jobs and economic development, courts and prisons, and roads
and bridges.
* Sixty-two percent say they believe state funding for Ohio's public K-12
schools is less than adequate, and while a majority (54%) believes that
state funding for higher education is at least adequate, nearly 70% of
Ohioans think it is unfair that funding has gone down in the past few
years while tuition paid by students has increased.
* More than 89% said the state should spare education from any spending
cuts, and nearly 81% said they would be more likely to vote against
their state legislator in the future if that legislator voted to reduce
state spending on K-12 public education[/COLOR].
"The bottom line for the Ohio public is that education is at the core of our communities and larger society and therefore should be supported properly," said Wick. "This public embrace of education should be viewed as a mandate to support and improve our public education systems. Of course, we still have a long way to go."
Ohio graduates 84% of its high school students, but only 58% of its urban students and only half of its African-American students. Only 59% of high school graduates go directly to college after high school, and only half of those freshmen actually earn a degree within six years. Ohio ranks 39th in the nation in the percentage of adults over 25 with a bachelor's degree, with only 2 of every 10 Ohioans having a bachelor's degree.
The public is not yet satisfied with the public education system, the poll found. Eight of every 10 Ohioans believe it is important to close the achievement gap between white students and black and Hispanic students. And Ohioans most often gave K-12 public schools a grade of C. Nearly half thought K-12 public schools needed major changes or an overhaul.
By comparison, fewer Ohioans thought that the state's public colleges and universities needed major changes or an overhaul, and the public was more likely to give them a grade of B.
Ohioans express support for the federal No Child Left Behind Act, but they are less supportive of testing, with 47% saying there is too much emphasis on testing in the public schools.
As part of statewide education improvement efforts, the Foundation is working with state, federal and local leaders to empower communities in 12 Ohio school districts to improve large urban high schools by transforming them into autonomous small high schools. That improvement effort affects the learning of more than 25,000 Ohio high school students.
KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the state's largest public education philanthropy, looks for ways to offer practical solutions to tough problems in education. A cornerstone of this effort is to understand and engage the public in the problem solving process, which is the foundation for the annual Ohio's Education Matters Poll. For additional details and the full Poll results please visit the Foundation's web site at
http://www.kwfdn.org .
KnowledgeWorks Foundation is Ohio's largest public education philanthropy. KnowledgeWorks Foundation provides funding and leadership for education initiatives throughout the state and is focused on creating and improving educational opportunities. The Foundation is committed to sharing knowledge gained and lessons learned with others in Ohio and across the nation to help inform public policy. Learn more about KnowledgeWorks Foundation at
http://www.kwfdn.org .
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LINK:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040916/clth002_1.html
Hopefully this is nation wide thinking.