Private survey: Utahns support all-day kindergarten, oppose partisan school board elections

SALT LAKE CITY — A Dan Jones survey sponsored by an anonymous party shows Utahns support optional extended-day kindergarten and strongly oppose the idea of local and state school board members having to run through a political party.

The survey was conducted in November, said Patti Harrington, associate executive director of the Utah School Boards Association. The results were released Monday, just weeks before the first day of the 2011 legislative session, which begins on Jan. 24.

There has been some discussion in the past about making school boards partisan, which is something the person who commissioned the survey disagrees with, Harrington said. "(The sponsor) wanted to see how strongly the public felt about that."

According to the survey results, 72 percent of Utahns somewhat or strongly oppose changing the current system to require local school board members to run through a political party. Sixty-six percent somewhat or strongly oppose requiring state board members to run through political parties.

"There's been some questions and controversy over that for a period of time," said Richard Stowell, executive director of the Utah School Boards Association.

Currently, candidates for local and state boards run without political affiliation. The survey shows the public prefers that system to partisan boards.

"People do not want to have local school board political football," Stowell said.

The survey shows Utahns generally support their local school systems, but do see challenges facing education. Sixty-two percent of the 600 respondents said they were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their local schools. Yet 50 percent of respondents said Utah's schools are definitely not adequately funded in order to provide a quality education, and 17 percent said they "probably are not."

The survey also covered the state's optional extended-day kindergarten program. About 8,000 students are currently enrolled in the program, which serves "at-risk" students. Eighty-three percent of respondents strongly favor or somewhat favor continuing the program as an option for some schools, and 78 percent of those in favor of continuing the programs would like to see optional extended-day kindergarten made available to all parents of kindergartners.

Harrington said the survey shows "overwhelming support" for extended kindergarten, a program which the Utah School Boards Association also supports.

Forty-one percent of respondents somewhat or strongly opposed increasing the state income tax rate, even if the additional money were directed to public education, while 53 percent strongly favored or somewhat favored the idea.

Sixty percent of the survey respondents do not have any children under the age of 18 living in their home.

E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com