Marylanders Think More Money Should Go To Education: Goucher Poll

TOWSON, MD — A new poll shows that nearly three-quarters of Marylanders support putting more funding toward public education. More than half of those surveyed thought additional funding was needed for roads and highways.

Goucher College conducted the poll of 763 adults in mid September by phone. People were asked about state spending in three categories: public education; public transportation; and roads and highways.

Does Maryland spend too little, about the right amount or too much on public education?

Here were the responses:

Public Education

• Too little: 70 percent
• Right amount: 19 percent
• Too much: 6 percent

About 74 percent of Marylanders said they supported personally paying more in taxes to improve public education, while 26 percent opposed the idea.

Public Transportation

• Too little: 43 percent
• Right amount: 36 percent
• Too much: 8 percent

About 51 percent supported the idea of personally paying more in taxes to improve public transportation, while 46 percent were against that.

Roads And Highways

• Too little: 54 percent
• Right amount: 34 percent
• Too much: 8 percent

About 52 percent of those surveyed supported personally paying more in taxes to improve roads and highways, while 45 percent opposed it.

The Goucher Poll revealed that while nearly three-quarters of those surveyed supported increasing education spending, 77 percent of survey participants had not heard of the Kirwan Commission, a task force created by the governor and general assembly in 2016 to devise a road map for how to improve the quality of the state's education system as well as ways to fund it. It was named for its chairman William E. Kirwan, chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland.

In January the Kirwan Commission issued an interim report with its recommendations for improving quality, and it will propose funding solutions before the end of the year.

About 22 percent of those surveyed for the Goucher Poll said they had heard or read about the Kirwan Commission; and of those, 68 percent correctly identified the goal of the commission as improving public education. There were about 15 percent who thought the purpose of the Kirwan Commission was to "improve public transportation."

The Goucher Poll was conducted Sept. 13 to 18. It has a margin of error of +/-3.6 percent.