2024 Texas Education Poll

Texans broadly support the state’s public schools in this year’s Texas Education Poll. Parents rate their community’s schools positively and report high levels of satisfaction with the quality of their child’s education. Texans overall support increased state funding across a range of initiatives and say teachers should have substantial influence in deciding what is taught in the classroom. 

Support for more funding is extraordinarily high, with 88 to 94 percent of Texans in the Charles Butt Foundation’s annual statewide poll favoring increasing state funding to expand career and technical training for students (94 percent), provide tutoring for students with learning gaps (91 percent), provide classroom support staff to teachers (90 percent), raise teacher salaries (89 percent), and assist students with mental health needs (88 percent). This includes about six in 10 or more Texans who strongly support increasing state funding for each of these initiatives. Funding support on these items is bipartisan, backed by more than eight in 10 Texans who are Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike. 

Support is also high for increasing state funding for several wraparound services such as spending to help students gain access to before- and after-school programs (84 percent), mental health services (82 percent), free school supplies (81 percent), and free and accessible transportation to and from school regardless of where the student lives (80 percent). In addition to student-specific support, 77 percent of Texans support increased funding to help students’ families access food assistance resources. 

When it comes to deciding what is taught in their community’s public schools, 75 percent of Texans say public school teachers should have a great deal or good amount of influence. About six in 10 Texans say local residents who have children in public school (62 percent) or the school board (61 percent) should have a great deal or good amount of influence in what is taught. This declines for the state legislature (41 percent) and for local residents who do not have children in public school (23 percent). 

In an open-ended question, Texans describe what is going well in their community’s public schools. The efforts and positive impacts of teachers are among the top responses, underscoring Texans’ trust in teachers. Moreover, among public school parents, nine in 10 or more say they are comfortable communicating with teachers or staff at their child’s school on topics including their child’s physical safety (94 percent), academic progress (93 percent), and emotional health and well-being (90 percent).

Eighty-four percent of public school parents are very or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their child’s education. This is mirrored in results on individual subjects: Eighty-seven percent of parents are satisfied with the quality of education their child is receiving in both reading and math, 86 percent in science, and 85 percent in writing. Relatively few public school parents, 15 percent, say they would send their child to a different public school if given the choice. 

Seventy percent of public school parents give an A or B grade to their local public schools, up from 56 percent in the inaugural 2020 Texas Education Poll. This declines to 48 percent among Texans without a child in a pre-K–12 public school. The gap in A or B ratings between parents and non-parents1 has remained after widening in the 2022 Texas Education Poll. 

News and information sources about public schools differ between parents and non-parents. Public school parents are far more likely than non-parents to mainly get their news directly from public schools, including school publications or school websites. School ratings are highest among non-parents who mainly get their news about public schools from these sources. 

In other results, 81 percent of Texans see helping students learn self-management, interpersonal skills, and decision making as extremely or very important in school quality. About as many, 78 percent, say the same about preparing students for a career. These also are the top priorities among public school parents, seen as highly important in school quality by 77 and 78 percent. A third item—preparing students for college—is an additional priority among public school parents, seen as highly important by 76 percent. 

The poll also gauged parents’ preferences for communication from teachers and staff. Communication in the form of text messages (51 percent) and email (49 percent) are the two top choices, followed distantly by phone calls or recorded voice messages (32 percent).

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