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IEA’s annual State of Education poll released

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* Click here for the full poll. From the IEA…

The Illinois Education Association (IEA) will release its sixth annual IEA State of Education report on Tues., March 12, the only bipartisan poll monitoring Illinoisans’ views on all aspects of public schools. The findings will be shared during a news conference today on Zoom at 10 a.m.

The poll results show Illinoisans believe all students have a right to a public education and support public schools, but they also acknowledge teaching has grown increasingly difficult and support solutions to address the problems. […]

Other key findings from the State of Education report include:

• 76% of people think teaching has become harder over the last few years;
• 79% of the public say they are very worried about the teacher shortage;
• 74% believe funding for public schools should increase;
• 58% believe teachers are underpaid;
• 71% of people say education support staff are underpaid;
• 87% of the public would support changes to make schools safer;
• 91% of Illinoisans believe that students have a right to a public education;
• 80% of residents believe more money should be spent combatting mental health issues among college students.

[…] The poll, conducted by both a democrat polling firm, Normington Petts, and a republican pollster, Next Generation Strategies, surveyed 1,000 Illinoisans Jan. 22-25. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent with 95 percent confidence.

* One of the first questions asked by the pollster was: “Now, I am going to read you a list of priorities for Illinois. Please tell me how important each one is to you, personally, on a scale of zero to ten where a zero means not a priority at all and ten means it is your top priority. You can choose any number from zero to ten. The first one is:”

Note that pension reform is far down the list, and has fallen 12 points since 2019.

* And despite the fact that lowering taxes is a high priority, respondents also said they want more spending…

Do you think funding for public schools in Illinois should increase, decrease, or stay about the same?

Increase ….. 65%
Decrease ….. 9
Stay the same ….. 20
(Don’t know) ….. 6

As you may know, 80% of Illinois public schools are not funded at the level required by the evidence-based model. This funding model was designed to prioritize state funding for students with the most need and school districts with the lowest local funding, allocating resources based on research-based best practices in education. Right now, just 20% of schools are fully funded. Having heard that, do you think funding for public schools in Illinois should increase, decrease, or stay about the same?

Increase ….. 74%
Decrease ….. 8
Stay the same ….. 14
(Don’t know) ….. 5

Do you think that public school teachers in your community are paid too little, too much, or about right?

Too little ….. 58%
Too much ….. 10
About right ….. 24
(Don’t know) ….. 8

As you may know, public schools in Illinois have support staff in classrooms called paraprofessionals. These paraprofessionals work with students with disabilities and behavior challenges. They get paid an average of $15 an hour. Do you think that paraprofessionals in your community are paid too little, too much or about right?

Too little ….. 71%
Too much ….. 3
About right ….. 20
(Don’t know) ….. 6

As you may know, teachers in Illinois do not pay into Social Security and therefore do not collect when they retire. Do you think that Illinois teachers should receive their full pension, see their pensions cut some, or see their pensions eliminated?

Full pension ….. 72%
Cut some ….. 12
Eliminated ….. 6
(Don’t know) ….. 10

Right now, the teacher pension system in Illinois in divided into two tiers. Tier One is for teachers hired before 2011 and Tier Two is for those who began working as teachers in 2011 or more recently. Tier One teachers are eligible for their full pension at age 60 or at age 55 if they have been teachers for 35 years. Tier Two teachers are required to work until the age of 67 to get their full pension benefits. All teachers pay 9% of their salary into the pension system. Would you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose changes to the teacher pension system that would allow Tier Two teachers to retire before age 67 and still receive their full benefits?

Strongly favor ….. 36%
Somewhat favor ….. 26
Somewhat oppose ….. 14
Strongly oppose ….. 11
(Don’t know) ….. 13

Total Favor ….. 63%
Total Oppose ….. 25%

* And this is probably a big reason why they believe more spending is needed…

Thinking about public school teachers in Illinois over the last few years or so, do you think that teaching has been much easier, somewhat easier, somewhat harder, or much harder for teachers compared to before that?

Much easier ….. 7%
Somewhat easier ….. 10
Somewhat harder ….. 30
Much harder ….. 46
(Don’t know) ….. 7

Total Easier ….. 17%
Total Harder….. 76%

* One more…

Six percent of Democrats, 21 percent of independents and 38 percent of Republicans oppose “Teaching Illinois high school students about racism and its impact in the United States.”

Five percent of Democrats, 15 percent of independents and 20 percent of Republicans oppose “Teaching Illinois high school students about slavery in the United States and its impacts.”

Keep in mind that subgroups will have higher margins of error.

* Methodology…

The following is a tabular report of a live interviewer on both mobiles and landlines (28%), text to web (15%), and online panel (57%) survey among 1,000 adults in Illinois. The survey was conducted from January 22-25, 2024, by trained, professional interviewers following procedures established by Normington, Petts & Associates. All polls are subject to errors caused by interviewing a sample of persons, rather than the entire population. In 95 cases out of 100, the responses to this survey should fall within ±3.1 percentage points of those that would have been obtained from interviewing the entire population of adults in Illinois. The sampling error for subgroups of the survey will be greater.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 1:07 pm

Comments

I went back through the past few years and in March 2019, 81% had having high quality public schools as a high priority. The polarization around public education is definitely trending in the wrong direction.

Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 2:06 pm
Most important question missing: Would you be in favor of a statewide ban on cell phones in the classroom?

“How much do you think Illinois residents spend per pupil on education?” or “Nationally, where do you think Illinois ranks on per pupil spending.” I’d be curious to see how close perception is to reality. Because…

==79% of the public say they are very worried about the teacher shortage==

That’s because 79% are very misinformed about the teacher shortage.

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 2:49 pm
I only skimmed but I did not see a question about teachers working until they are 67. Tier 2 for teachers is crazy to me and I think it’ll lead to a more extreme teacher shortage in Illinois.

Comment by Lurker Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 3:14 pm
===I only skimmed but I did not see a question about teachers working until they are 67===

It’s in the post, for crying out loud.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 3:20 pm
=That’s because 79% are very misinformed about the teacher shortage.=

Please “inform” the class, be specific and cite sources because, and I may be misinterpreting (if that is the case my apologies) your comment, but it sounds like you don’t think there is a shortage.

My colleagues and I beg to differ if that is the case.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 3:37 pm
I’ll go ahead and provide the data. It’s the ISBE 2023 Educator Supply and Demand Report. Read into it what you will. My takeaway is that any combination of affluence and subject areas of oversupply (like social studies) have vastly smaller shortages than combinations of less affluence and under supply (like special education). Surprise surprise.
https://www.isbe.net/Documents/2023-Educator-Supply-Demand-Report.pdf

Comment by Proud Papa Bear Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 3:48 pm
==but it sounds like you don’t think there is a shortage==

Overall, there is not. Illinois employs more teachers today than in 2019, ever though there are fewer students. Illinois’ pupil/teacher ratio now might be the best it’s ever been in modern history.

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_208.40.asp

Are some school districts having issues finding specialized talent? Of course, just like any employer. But there is no teacher shortage.

None of this matters, of course, because the false narrative has a life of its own. I could point to more data that shows teachers have the lowest turnover rate of any profession. But no one will care because “teachers are leaving in droves” is the narrative. It has been for over 100 years.

https://www.thefrontpageonline.com/breaking-news/teacher-complaints-have-not-changed-in-95-years

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 4:16 pm
There is the Nationwide Teacher Shortage Areas Listing that is searchable by state and subject area https://tsa.ed.gov/#/reports

Comment by Two left feet Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 4:25 pm
=But there is no teacher shortage.

None of this matters, of course, because the false narrative has a life of its own.=

Can you tell me where my business and science teacher are then? These are not additions, just replacements. Our staffing is at a lower level than it was 5 years ago.

Science isn’t a specialized talent.

How many teachers have you hired or, better yet, when was the last time you tried to fill a classroom vacancy?

Your “data” also doesn’t talk about students needs and what we have to do now (mostly, but not exclusively, based on mandates) that we didn’t have to do even as recently as 5 years ago.

Something else to ponder for Illinois…from 2012 to 2017 the number of teachers taking the illinois licensure test in Illinois dropped by 75%. For perspective, if in 2012 10,000 prospective. teachers and administrative took the licensure test by 2017 that number was 2,500.

But you seem to know better.

Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 12, 24 @ 5:02 pm