LANSING — The majority of Michigan voters say Gov. Rick Snyder has decreased funding for K-12 schools in the last three years, according to a new Inside Michigan Politics/Lambert, Edwards & Associates/Denno Research poll.
By an almost 3:1 margin — 53.8% to 18% — voters said that the Republican governor has cut spending. 24% were undecided.
Education funding has emerged as a battleground issue in the 2014 election, particularly the governor’s race. While Democrats and likely gubernatorial nominee Mark Schauer have argued that per-pupil spending has been cut over the last three years, Republicans and Snyder have countered that total spending on schools has ticked up.
Here is the question:
In the three years that Governor Rick Snyder has been in office, do you think he overall has increased or decreased spending for K-12 schools? (Respondents were given two options: Increased or Decreased).
“Over the past few months, Republicans and Democrats have been engaged in serious battle about education spending — Republicans – led by Gov. Snyder — argue that the total dollars going into K-12 schools have increased, while Dems believe the foundation allowance – or the money used to primarily fund classroom operations – has been cut,” said T.J. Bucholz, senior director of public affairs for Lambert, Edwards & Associates. “The truth on this issue is that both sides are right. Opinion polls like ours, however, don’t measure truth, but what people believe at a single point in time.”
Republicans, independents and Democrats all said Snyder has decreased funding. 27.5% of Republicans said the governor increased education funding and 33.9% said he decreased spending. For Democrats, 72.1% said Snyder decreased school spending and 10.7% responded that he decreased spending. For independents, 51.7% said governor decreased spending and 18.6% said he decreased funding.***
And 69% of respondents who said Snyder has decreased education spending were ages 35 to 64, the age block in which people are most likely to have school-aged children.
“The issue comes down to whether people believe money is getting into the classroom. And this poll indicates parents of school-aged children don’t believe Gov. Snyder’s narrative that schools are seeing more money,” said Susan J. Demas, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. “Republicans have clearly done their own polling on this issue and realize it’s a weakness in the election. That’s why they’re looking to up education spending in this year’s budget.”
