Different paths, same goal: New statewide survey shows Alabamians agree on education priorities
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Special to the News
A majority of Alabamians rank education as one of the state’s top priorities, according to the 2026 Alabama Public Opinion Survey released last week by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA).
The statewide poll examines residents’ views on state budget priorities, education funding, school choice, and who should set education policy.
For more than a decade, PARCA’s survey has stood as one of Alabama’s most credible, nonpartisan measures of how residents feel about education funding, priorities, and reform. That’s why AASB is sharing these findings: they speak directly to the work of local school board members across the state, and they give school board members, legislators and communities a shared, fact-based starting point heading into a new legislative quadrennium.
The 444-respondent survey results show Alabamians largely agree on the problems facing public education, with a majority (54%) preferring public schools for their own children or grandchildren:
- Private schools accepting state funds should meet public-school-level standards – true across nearly every specific item tested (73–94%)
- Online sales tax revenue should go to schools the same way local sales tax revenue does (78%)
- Too little is being spent on education overall (76%)
- Some education reserve funds should be used for current needs rather than held back entirely (75%)
- Too little is being spent on K-12 specifically (73%)
- Too little is being spent on pre-K (66%)
- Local or state boards of education – not the federal government or legislature – should drive decisions, with two-thirds-plus agreement across all six policy domains tested (66-plus%)
AASB’s review of the data finds that while Alabamians agree on the issues, they are divided on how to get there:
- On funding, some residents favor higher taxes, others favor spending reserves, and others favor redirecting existing online sales tax revenue – three different possible solutions converging on the same goal of adequately funding schools.
- On school quality and accountability, respondents trust the State Board of Education to lead on standards-setting (49%) while trusting local boards to lead on safety and the school calendar (46–57%) – two institutional paths serving the same underlying goal of good schools.
- On the best outcome for students, Republicans lean toward school choice as the mechanism, while independents and Democrats lean toward investment in public schools – different routes to the same parental goal.
- On voucher funding, retaining income caps (44%) and limiting expansion to students from lower-performing “priority” schools (21%) are different tools aimed at the same goal: making sure limited dollars reach the families who need them most.
“This survey shows Alabamians agree far more than the headlines suggest,” said Scott Suttle, AASB Board president. “Whether you’re a business owner in the Black Belt or a parent in the Shoals, you believe education is underfunded, you trust your local school board to make decisions close to home, and you want accountability wherever public dollars go. Even where we land on different solutions – how to fund schools or how to achieve the best student outcomes – we’re aiming at the same goal. That’s common ground legislators, school boards and communities can build on. It’s a reminder that we don’t have to agree on every solution to agree on the destination. This data gives us a shared, nonpartisan starting point to band together and move Alabama’s schools forward.”
Suttle’s optimism is matched by a sense of urgency about what comes next. With a new legislative quadrennium set to begin, AASB leadership says the survey’s timing gives Alabama’s education stakeholders a rare opportunity: a common, nonpartisan dataset to guide the decisions ahead.
“This data couldn’t come at a more important time,” said Chad Holden, AASB executive director. “As new and returning legislators head into the next quadrennium following this fall’s elections, they’ll be drafting education budgets and policy that shape our state for years to come. PARCA’s survey gives us a clear, credible picture of what Alabamians want: more funding, strong local control and real accountability for every dollar spent on a child’s education.”
AASB will roll out the survey findings in the coming weeks to school board members, lawmakers and communities across the state because good policy starts with knowing where the people stand on the issues, including education funding, the CHOOSE Act, tax policy, and decision-making authority in Alabama’s schools. A full copy of the survey is available at alabamaschoolboards.org.
About the Alabama Association of School Boards
The Alabama Association of School Boards represents all of the state’s public local school boards. Since 1949, AASB has served education leaders and the interests of local decision making in public education. Today, the association serves more than 800 school board members statewide. The association’s mission is to develop excellent school board leaders through quality training, advocacy, and resources.
