Statewide public opinion poll shows strong support for education reform; How it is paid for is another question

Gov. Mike Dunleavy released the results Tuesday, April 9, from a statewide public opinion poll on education in Alaska. The poll revealed strong support for increasing education funding, yet as a general approach to improving education outcomes, Alaskans believe that “change and reforms to the education system” are more important than “increasing education funding” by a margin of 1.7-to-1.

How the reforms would be paid for was not part of the poll, except that most respondents don’t want to use their Permanent Fund Dividend to support school improvements. The survey was conducted by Dittman Research from March 20-24, 2024. Dittman typically works for Republican clients.

While 77% of Alaskans surveyed support increasing BSA funding, according to the survey, 57% said that changes and reforms to the education system are the most important factors in improving education outcome, compared to 33% who said that increasing education funding is the most important factor for improving education outcomes.

“If the significant shifts over the past decade in how Alaskan families are choosing to educate their children were not already a worthy indicator, this survey confirms that Alaskans want to reform public education in Alaska so it works better for their children,” Dunleavy said. “School funding is essential, and like most of the survey respondents, I support necessary education funding. However, increased funding is not a silver bullet. It’s not the be-all and end-all, and it should not be the end of the discussion.”

Increasing the Base Student Allocation, or BSA, will not fix Alaska’s education system, the governor said. The BSA is the formula that guides state funding for schools. Education supporters say the formula has not been adjusted for inflation since 2016, the result being a steady decrease in state money for schools in terms of purchasing power.

Dunleavy and many Republican legislators say school performance should be improved before more money is spent.

“Alaskans want an adequately funded education system that does not maintain the status quo. They want children able to read, write and perform math at their grade level,” Dunleavy said.

“The responsibility we bear as policy makers is to craft education policy that produces the results Alaskans want to see – not to write blank checks to school districts. They want their children to get the best possible education. For many families, charter schools can do that,” the governor said

Other key findings in the poll include:

75% support an open enrollment system 73% support public charter schools using excess capacity of other public schools 71% support a bonus incentive program to recruit and retain teachers 64% support a greater allocation of education funding to public charter schools 58% support a greater allocation of education funding to public homeschooling 56% think undercapacity schools should be consolidated when student impact minimal 54% support resources to transport students to their school of choice

The poll did not touch on how to pay for improved school performance. Solutions pushed by the governor, such as teacher incentives and more money for correspondence and home school student, will add to a state budget that is already squeezed.

Dittman also found that most of those responding to the poll don’t want to pay themselves for improved schools, such as by using part of the Permanent Fund Divdend. Only 23% of the poll respondents support use of the PFD to increase education funding. Full polling results are available at gov.alaska.gov/education-reform.