Florida's Opinion on K-12 Public Education Spending

This scientifically representative poll of 1,200 Floridians finds that public opinion about K-12 public education spending is seriously misinformed. Floridians think public schools need more money, but the main reason is that they are badly mistaken about how much money the public schools actually get. Key findings of the study include: (1) Half of Floridians (50 percent) think Florida spends no more than $4,000 per student on the operating costs of K-12 schools, not including school construction; (2) When asked how much money Florida ought to spend on K-12 schools, half of Floridians (51 percent) said it should spend less than $6,000 per student--below what it currently spends; (3) Respondents who are public school employees (4 percent of the total) were more likely than the general population to say that Florida spends $6,000 or less per student--75 percent of public school teachers chose one of the three responses that underestimate actual spending, compared to 62 percent of all Floridians; (4) Respondents who are public school employees were also more likely to say that Florida ought to spend $6,000 or less per student--59 percent of public school teachers chose one of the three responses recommending a level of spending less than actual spending, compared to 51 percent of all Floridians; (5) Among all Floridians, 36 percent describe themselves as "very familiar" with public education in Florida, another 36 percent describe themselves as "somewhat familiar," and 28 percent describe themselves as "not at all familiar"; and (6) Floridians are most likely to say that their information on public education comes from newspaper articles (36 percent), having their own child in school (36 percent), television news (27 percent), friends and neighbors (18 percent) and newspaper editorials (14 percent). [This poll was released jointly by the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation, The James Madison Institute, and the Collins Center for Public Policy.]