MILWAUKEE – A Marquette University Law School poll released Thursday found more people are growing dissatisfied with the quality of a Wisconsin public school education.
The poll, conducted over an eight-day period in June and interviewing 871 respondents, found “just 46% of respondents expressing satisfaction with the public schools in their community, down from 63% in a poll asking the same question in October 2023”.
Poll director Charles Franklin wrote Thursday that level was the lowest among Wisconsin adults in the previous 16 Marquette Law surveys on the topic.
“The rise in dissatisfaction is seen across all regions of the state, but especially in the city of Milwaukee, where more than three-quarters reported dissatisfaction,” said Franklin; respondents from the city indicated a 41% dissatisfied rate and 37% very dissatisfied rate.
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While the poll was conducted as Milwaukee Public Schools was in the spotlight for its financial mismanagement, and soon after then-Superintendent Dr. Keith Posley resigned from his position, Franklin noted the growing dissatisfaction with MPS has been consistently higher than other districts in the state.
Poll finds parents can do most to improve school quality
The poll also asked respondents: “How much an each of the following do to improve the quality of schools?”, then gave the options of parents, local school boards, state government, and federal government in Washington. Respondents overwhelmingly suggested parents could do the most to improve school quality, while the federal government could do the least:
The findings included a mixture of political leanings among respondents. The partisan makeup of the sample was 31% Republican, 29% Democratic, and 40% independent.
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