Educate Oklahoma: Exclusive Poll

A News 9/News On 6 poll shows Oklahomans have strong opinions regarding the state’s education system.

From spending to report cards to oversight, we asked Oklahomans to weigh in. The majority of those we surveyed gave an overall grade of “C” to kindergarten through 12th grade public education in Oklahoma. 

We asked Oklahomans if the state was spending too much, too little or just the right amount per pupil. 65.1 percent agreed the state spends too little per student. Only about 14 percent of Oklahomans felt the state was spending the correct amount.

In a follow-up question, we asked Oklahomans if they agree or disagree that public schools could be improved if the state spent more money in the classroom and less on administration. An overwhelming 86.6 percent agreed schools would be better if more funding was available in the classroom.

Our exclusive poll asked voters to focus on the state’s controversial A-F school grading system. We asked voters if they think using a letter grade to evaluate schools is a good, fair or poor policy. Voters appeared to be fairly split on the issue. 33.2 percent of voters found the system to be good to excellent. 30.5 percent said the system was fair, while 26.1 percent find it to be a poor way to evaluate schools.  

Oklahoma’s education system ranks 48th among the 50 states for quality. 34.6 percent of voters we surveyed blamed the legislature for the low ranking.

The survey of 804 likely Oklahoma voters was conducted Aug. 4. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.46 percent.