Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Bill Barrow
Times-Picayune
On teacher tenure, 57 percent said they either strongly favor or somewhat favor the general concept of limiting tenure protections for teachers and ending the existing salary structure based on years of service.
According to the sponsors, the results come from 802 registered voters interviewed over eight days in February. The groups did not release a demographic break down of the respondents, but said results were weighted to reflect age, gender and race breakdowns of the general population.
The sponsors highlighted two questions related to tuition aid:
Question 12 of the survey was:
A school voucher system allows parents the option of sending their children to the school of their choice, whether that school is public or private, including both religious and non-religious schools. If this policy were adopted, tax dollars currently allocated to a school district would be allocated to parents in the form of a "school voucher" to pay partial or full tuition for their child's school. In general, do you favor or oppose a school voucher system?
On that question, 63 percent of respondents said they favored such a design. The support dropped slightly to 60 percent on the following question: Question 16: A proposal has been made that would extend voucher eligibility to any low-income or middle-income student whose school gets a C, D or F grade based on the state's accountability system. In general, do you favor or oppose this kind of proposal?
It should be noted that under Jindal's proposal, private schools and high-performing public schools would get to choose whether to participate. That means that parents of voucher students would be choosing from among the available schools rather than among all schools near a household. The governor's plan would make an estimated 380,000 children eligible for the aid program. The administration has estimated it expects a few thousand voucher spots the first year of eligibility.
The survey did not include details about a second Jindal voucher proposal that would allow individuals and corporations to financially support third-party groups that pay tuition for low-income children, with the donors later recouping most of their initial outlay through state general fund rebates.
The key tenure question in the survey reads this way:
A proposal has been made to change the guidelines for teacher tenure, seniority status and salaries. This plan would eliminate tenure for teachers who don't meet certain qualifications on the state's teacher evaluation system. The proposal also ends annual pay raises base on years in the classroom, and it bans the use of seniority in all personnel decisions. In general, do you favor or oppose this kind of proposal? (Questioner then probed whether respondent felt "strongly" or "somewhat" favorable or opposed.)
Jindal's voucher and tenure plans could see floor votes in each chamber as early as this week. Both chambers must approve the same version of a bill to send it to the governor for his signature.
