Poll: Most Texas voters willing to pay higher taxes for education

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AUSTIN - Nearly three-quarters of the state's registered voters would be willing to pay more in taxes to raise teacher pay, according to a new poll by the non-partisan, nonprofit Texas Lyceum leadership group.

Voters decidedly would not be willing to pay more for school administrators - only 20 percent would fork over more to hike their salaries.

Majorities, however, said that in addition to raising teacher salaries, they would be willing to pay more in taxes for school staff, construction of new schools, additional instruction in art and music and investment in computers and high-tech equipment.

The Sept. 10-26 statewide telephone survey of registered voters covered a range of topics, including public and higher education, health care, water and the state law requiring a sonogram before an abortion.

The survey resulted in 1,175 completed interviews, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.

The poll comes after Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican-dominated Legislature cut back hard on public education funding in response to last year's budget crunch, and as some are pressing to restore money to schools in the legislative session that begins in January.

It shows even Republican support for paying more taxes for some key education items. For example, of the 74 percent who said they would pay more taxes to raise teacher pay, 60 percent identified themselves as Republicans; 91 percent were Democrats.

'Significant support'

For most of the other education items for which a majority of voters overall would pay more tax dollars, GOP backing was in the 40s - except for investment in computers and high-tech equipment, which was favored by 58 percent of Republicans.

"This is, actually, consistent with what you see in a lot of the national data," said Daron Shaw, University of Texas government professor, who conducted the poll for the Texas Lyceum. "There is a significant support to pay not just more money - but your own money - to support certain kinds of programs, certain kinds of policy initiatives, and education really ends up being one of the top scorers in that context. People want to invest more in education."

Mark Jones, Rice University political scientist, said it is a better poll question than simply asking people if they want to invest more in education, but added, "In the end, the problem will be this is an abstract concept. What are those taxes, and what do they involve?"

Shaw said if the question specified a particular dollar increase in property taxes, for example, "that would probably knock the edges off of some of the support."

Also on state revenue, 64 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay more in water tap fees to ensure state water needs are met. The idea was backed by 70 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Republicans.

Tuition a hot topic

On higher education, respondents were split, with 40 percent saying public universities are among the best in the nation but 42 percent saying students do not get a fair return for what they pay.

In addition, 46 percent said they want to re-regulate college tuition, but 48 percent said they want to keep deregulation. Of those who want to keep deregulation, 18 percent simply said tuition should remain deregulated, and 30 percent said deregulation should be coupled with help for low-income students to offset costs.

Perry is pushing for changes that he says would make college degrees more affordable and costs more predictable.

When asked about federal health care reform, Republicans and Democrats were "mirror images of each other with respect to their opinions toward the law."

More than 80 percent of Republicans had extremely or somewhat unfavorable views of the federal Affordable Care Act, while more than 80 percent of Democrats had a somewhat or extremely favorable view of the law.

Looking at voters overall, about a 9 percent plurality said Texas should take advantage of the Medicaid expansion under the federal law, with 49 percent saying the state should do so and 40 percent saying it should not because Medicaid is a broken program, the same phrasing used by Perry; Democrats were greatly in favor of the concept while Republicans were more likely to be against it.

On the law requiring a sonogram before an abortion, there was another notable partisan divide: 69 percent of Republicans favored it and 62 percent of Democrats opposed it.

Among other health questions, 64 percent of those surveyed said today's children are much more likely to be fat and out of shape than when the respondents were kids.

Many blamed parents not controlling what their children eat (31 percent); modern technology, such as televisions and computers (24 percent); and fast food and a bad diet (17 percent).

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