Milwaukeeans don't blame teachers or poverty for poor results

Three years ago the organization became the source of academic controversy when liberal group One Wisconsin Now revealed (through an open records request) that the group's president, George Lightbourn, had urged the professor hired to do the polling, UW's Ken Goldstein, to downplay the statewide opposition to vouchers in his summary of the results.

This time around, however, the group avoided concerns of open records requests from inquiring eyes by contracting with a professor from a private university. Nevertheless, the results of the poll, conducted by University of Chicago political science professor William Howell, reveals encouraging information for progressives as well as conservatives.

The good news for teachers unions and their allies: Very few people in Milwaukee appear to believe teachers are to blame for the woeful state of the city's public schools.

Even better: Fifty-six percent of respondents believe that teachers unions have a "somewhat" or "very" positive effect on education. Only 22 percent believe they have a negative effect on public education.

When it comes to teachers who have been "performing poorly," 6 percent believe they should have their pay reduced, a quarter believe the teacher should be fired, while a majority believe the teacher should be provided with additional training.

The best result for progressives? Seventy-seven think that public funding should be increased for Milwaukee Public Schools.

But there's definitely some good news for conservatives and proponents of voucher schools.

For instance: Most people in Milwaukee do not cite poverty as the main driver of poor test scores and high dropout rates. In fact, only 27 percent believe schools cannot be improved until problems of poverty are addressed first.

And while Milwaukeeans are hesitant to blame teachers for students' shortcomings, they are quick to blame parents and families — a result that some conservatives may welcome as evidence that "family-focused" policy is key to addressing poverty and other societal ills. A little over 36 percent believe an individual student's failure to learn is due mostly to his or her parents, while 27 percent attributed the failure to the student.

Most importantly for WPRI's cause, most people express support for the current Milwaukee School Choice Program. 

So overall, it's a mixed picture, allowing both sides of the public/voucher school debate to characterize the results very differently.

"Deteriorating schools can get better despite poverty," says the headline of the WPRI summary.

One Wisconsin Now's Scot Ross had a different take on the data: "The big deal is their poll says people want more teachers with better pay and more investment in schools (instead of) lower property taxes."

Lightbourn could not be reached immediately for comment.