4/21/99
ATHENS, Ohio -- Most Ohioans think public schools are not adequately funded and would favor an increase in state taxes earmarked for schools.
That's the finding of a state-wide survey by the Scripps Survey Center at Ohio University.
Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said Ohio schools get too little funding, while 24 percent said school funding is about right, 7 percent said it is too high and 12 percent were undecided. Fifty-three percent said they would favor an increase in state taxes earmarked for schools, while 34 percent said they would oppose it and 13 percent were undecided.
A sales tax increase is the favored option if there is to be an increase in state taxes. Forty-six percent said they would prefer that, while 18 percent said they would prefer an increase in the income tax and 19 percent said they would prefer an increase in both the sales tax and the income tax.
Thirty-eight percent of the respondents said local property taxes for schools are too high, but 49 percent said they are about right and 6 percent said they are too low. Sixty percent said state support of schools is too low.
Support for increased state funding and a state tax increase came from respondents in cities and suburbs, as well as those in rural areas. A state tax increase was favored by 57 percent of those in the cities and suburbs and 52 percent of those in rural areas.
"This shows that the school funding problem is not merely a rural issue as some in the media and legislators have portrayed it," said Survey Director Guido H. Stempel III. "Our statewide survey shows that both Republicans and Democrats support a state tax increase for the schools."
However, that Republicans support a sales tax more strongly than Democrats do, Stempel said.
The results are based on telephone interviews between April 6 and April 10 with 422 randomly selected Ohio adults. Sampling error for the survey, which included all Ohio telephone area codes, is 5 percent.