Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

55% Say Government Doesn’t Spend Enough on Public Education
Rasmussen Reports ^ | March 8, 2010

Posted on 03/08/2010 8:08:29 AM PST by reaganaut1

While government leaders attempt to tackle budget deficits that are ballooning to historic proportions, 55% of Americans say the government does not spend enough money on public education.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 20% think the government spends too much on public education, while another 21% say the amount it spends is about right.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Democrats and 55% of voters not affiliated with either party say the government does not spend enough, a view shared by just 42% of Republicans.

Among all voters, 45% believe it is more important for the government to aid low-income students than to help the best and brightest pupils, up four points from a survey last May. Twenty-six percent (26%) see helping the best and brightest students as more important. Twenty-nine percent (29%) more are not sure.

Most Democrats (63%) and a plurality (46%) of unaffiliated voters see aiding low-income students as the priority. Republicans are more narrowly divided: 41% say helping the best and brightest is more important, while 26% think the emphasis should be on low-income students.

Married voters are closely divided on the question, too.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of all voters say they have been following recent news reports about proposed cuts in public education funding due to state budget problems.

Last August, only 17% of Americans believed teachers should be asked to take furloughs or pay cuts to help deal with the budget crises that are facing many school systems nationwide.

President Obama has said U.S. children need to spend more time in school to make them more competitive with students from other countries, and 49% of Americans think the president is right. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disagree.

(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: 2010polls; arth; broke; education; educationfunding; publicschools; schools; spending; union
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-115 next last
Don't shoot the messenger -- Rasmussen polls often give Democrats heartburn.
1 posted on 03/08/2010 8:08:29 AM PST by reaganaut1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

IOW,half those polled don’t know that state worker pensions are bankrupting their state.


2 posted on 03/08/2010 8:11:44 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Don’t shoot the messenger — Rasmussen polls often give Democrats heartburn.


This poll gives >me< heartburn.


3 posted on 03/08/2010 8:11:56 AM PST by unkus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

What a crock of s*()! We spend way too much money on public education.


4 posted on 03/08/2010 8:14:18 AM PST by lesko
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Good little drones, buying all the lies.


5 posted on 03/08/2010 8:14:22 AM PST by Tax-chick (Aw, CUSSWORDS!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

We spend plenty on public education, but much of it is wasted in paying for all the administrators. A friend of mine who teaches forensic accounting looked at our local school budget and estimated that at last 40% of the budget went to administrative costs.


6 posted on 03/08/2010 8:14:55 AM PST by The Great RJ ("The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." M. Thatcher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

55% of people are idiots on pubilc education spending. Clearly.

Much of this money goes to teachers unions and pension setups that are bankrupting the states. Not to mention have two vice principals in each school, a ton of administrative positions that suck resources away and add to pension burdens. Paid for continuing education junkets.


7 posted on 03/08/2010 8:15:00 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1; All

Does anyone know what percentage we spend on education vs. GDP? Just wondering if we can use that.


8 posted on 03/08/2010 8:15:59 AM PST by ConjunctionJunction (LOLcat sez: "ObamaCare: Do Not Want!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
When I was working on my Masters in Education in 2002, some of the students were trying to do a thesis that supported their hypothesis that there was a correlation between educational spending and student achievement. They were unable to find any studies that supported it. Some of the poorest schools in the country had the best achievement and some of the richest had the lowest achievement. The biggest factor was the attitude and involvement of the parents.

The main factor that was tied to money was the security of the school. Students who were worried about getting mugged in the hallways tended to do worse on achievement tests.

9 posted on 03/08/2010 8:16:21 AM PST by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

ping for later


10 posted on 03/08/2010 8:18:13 AM PST by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Here is a clue for the 55% who think the government should spend more on education.

No matter HOW MUCH money you give the government schools, it will NEVER, EVER be enough!

Government schools are required by law to provide a lowest-common-denominator education, replete with political correctness, anti-americanism, anti-Christ indoctrination.

They cannot be repaired.

They must be abandoned.

An allegory that comes to mind is the Captain of the Titanic asking for more money to buy bigger pumps to pump the water out of the ship faster so it won’t sink.

American “Public Education” is a sinking ship, it cannot be salvaged. Leave it to the fishes and barnacles.

American “Public Education”, as it exists today in its morubund condition, is better understood as The Bus Ministry of the State Church of Marxist Humanism.


11 posted on 03/08/2010 8:18:46 AM PST by Westbrook (Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

They need to ask the question a different way. Government K-12 schools cost, say $13,000 per pupil per year. With say 20 students per class, ask instead, we pay $260,000 to run one school classroom for one year. And that does not include full funding for retirement.

Would your church be willing to do it for less? Would you? I could make a comfortable living teaching four students at government rates.


12 posted on 03/08/2010 8:19:47 AM PST by bIlluminati (Don't just hope for change, work for change in 2010.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

My answer would be both yes and no. We spend a fortune on public education, but it is not always money well spent. DC public schools are a prime example of this. We spend far too much (nationwide) on administrators and “luxuries” than we do on teachers, books and building repairs.


13 posted on 03/08/2010 8:20:07 AM PST by brothers4thID (http://scarlettsays.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
The comments are better than the stories:

.

14 posted on 03/08/2010 8:21:06 AM PST by Elle Bee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

2/3rds of my property taxes go towards public school districts and I have no children. Hate to sound selfish about it but I get zero benefit from the involuntary ‘contribution’ and it being a mild form of socialism at that.


15 posted on 03/08/2010 8:21:37 AM PST by tflabo (Restore the Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

totally unrelated , I’m sure...
“Cash-Strapped States Delay Paying Income-Tax Refunds”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2465586/posts


16 posted on 03/08/2010 8:24:31 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

That is because they have no understanding of where most of the money goes, like teachers unions and pension plans.


17 posted on 03/08/2010 8:27:18 AM PST by dforest
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
Almost all the greatest minds in American history learned in one room school houses... and yet we now spend 10’s of thousands a year on kids education and they can't even read...

I don't think it's the money.

18 posted on 03/08/2010 8:27:43 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama = Epic Fail)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

The problem is the Government should not be involved in education we had a higher literacy rate when they were not.
Education is about 1 thing control of the people’s thought look where public education idea came from the Germans. It in only a little over 100 years old! We we get rid of public education and every other program the government doesn’t belong in we will be better off!


19 posted on 03/08/2010 8:27:56 AM PST by jroneil (2010 is all that matter now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

Compare/contrast the spelling, writing, grammar skills from Colonial America era with the modern education system. Compare/contrast also modern home schooling or private education with the bloated public school end products. If anything the opposite may be true-—more money allocated to public education may actually be a hindrance and wasteful to accomplish the objectives of learning.


20 posted on 03/08/2010 8:28:24 AM PST by tflabo (Restore the Republic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-115 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson