Poll Analysis: Low Ratings For Troubled L.A. Schools

     Despite recent upsets in district management and a slew of proposed new policies in the LAUSD, parents have a low opinion of the school board and say they have yet to see any change, according to a new Times poll. Parents continue to give low ratings to their local public schools and support interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines' proposals for decentralizing the district and for linking teachers' pay to student performance.
     There is one upbeat note in an otherwise downbeat assessment by parents. Perhaps fueled by the possibilities of new policies ahead, parents overwhelmingly held out hope that positive change is possible in the future of the school system.
     The LAUSD has the second largest student population in the country, including not only the city of Los Angeles but also the cities of West Hollywood and San Fernando, among others. The district, like other big city school systems, is struggling with issues of overcrowding and crime as well as the challenge of teaching a student body whose majority speaks something other than English as a first language.
     The various groups that make up the district's demographics sometimes have divergent opinions on the issues facing the Los Angeles public school system. In a district where 70% of public school children are Latino, it is interesting that this largest parent demographic has the fewest concerns. African American parents on the other hand (whose children make up 14% of the district's students) are the most unhappy with the system. (The survey did not contain enough Asian respondents in the LAUSD to break out responses among that group.)

Schools, Teachers and the School Board      The latest Times poll found residents of the district are not impressed with their neighborhood's public schools. Seventy percent of parents of school-age children in the district rated their local schools as either fair (33%) or poor(37%) while 18% rated their local school as good and only 9% characterized them as excellent. This is a significant downward slide from a Times poll just over a year ago, in which 43% of parents of school-age children in the city of Los Angeles gave their local schools one of the two highest ratings.
     African American parents gave their schools the lowest ratings of fair or poor in overwhelming numbers (94%), dwarfing the (still high) figures of 58% among Latino parents and 67% among whites. Most strikingly, seven out of 10 African American parents in the district rated their local schools as poor.
     Latino parents were more likely to rate their local schools as excellent or good--38% compared to only 2% of African American parents and 25% of whites.
     In addition to their low opinion of the public schools, a majority (58%) of district parents said they have an unfavorable opinion of the school board. Latino parents are split--34% hold a favorable view of the school board and 31% an unfavorable one,--while African American (20% positive to 64% negative) and white (17% to 63%) parents are much more negative.
     This is not to say parents are without hope for the public schools. Nearly everyone in the survey expressed the sense that real change is possible--86% of district parents (including 93% of African American parents who are the system's biggest critics) disagreed with the idea that the schools are so troubled that it would be impossible to improve them.

District Decentralization and Merit Pay      The district's new school board and interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines have proposed separating the huge LAUSD into a series of smaller, independent areas. The survey tested a similar idea--breaking the district up completely--and found that it is popular among about six in 10 area residents. Support for district decentralization increases steadily as income rises--from 44% among those whose household incomes are less than $20,000 a year to 72% among those with incomes over $60,000. (Those with highest incomes are most likely to have children in private and parochial school and to denigrate the quality of their local schools.)
     Cortines and the school board have also proposed that teachers' salaries be linked to their students' performance on standardized tests. The idea of merit pay for teachers is supported by a 58% majority of parents, even though 54% said they don't feel standardized testing is as good an indicator of a child's progress in school as is the current method of grades and evaluations. After hearing arguments for and against merit pay, support dropped slightly among district parents to a slender 47% plurality who continued to say it was necessary to hold teachers accountable for their students' achievements over 43% who called such a plan unfair.
     Merit pay is strongly opposed by United Teachers, Los Angeles (UTLA)--the union which represents most of the district's teachers. UTLA members are currently threatening to strike if their demand for an alternative broad-based 21% raise is not met. Just over six in 10 district residents and two-thirds of area parents agree that teachers' salaries are inadequate, but they have mixed opinions about the union itself--37% of parents said they have a favorable impression of the teachers' union, while 31% said their impression is unfavorable and nearly a third aren't sure.
     Fifty-four percent of Latino, 59% of white and 84% of African American parents said teachers are underpaid. Two-thirds of Latino parents approve of instituting merit pay and holding teachers financially accountable for their students' performance, while majorities (53% respectively) of African American and white parents disagreed and indicated they were inclined to feel that idea was unfair.
     A plurality of Latino parents (46%) hadn't heard enough about the teachers' union to have an opinion, but 40% said they have a positive impression of the group compared to 14% who don't. White parents were almost split with a slightly more unfavorable impression (36%) than favorable (31%), but twice as many African American parents hold a negative impression as positive (48% negative to 24% positive).

The Belmont Learning Complex and District Management      Most district parents indicated they were familiar with the issues surrounding the Belmont Learning Complex. Nearly nine out of 10 (87%) said they had heard at least a little about the stalled project while a 52% majority said they'd heard a lot. A plurality (44%) said the decision by the school board and acting superintendent to halt construction in the face of environmental concerns about the building site made them less confident in the district's new management even though six out of 10 (61%) agreed with the decision to halt construction.
     Strongest support for continuing construction on the new Belmont high school despite concern about significant levels of toxic and explosive gases is found in the San Fernando Valley portion of the city of Los Angeles. Over half of Valley residents said the decision to stop construction made them less confident in the district management and 46% think construction of the school should be restarted.
     Despite direct action on Belmont and the proposals put forth by the interim superintendent and new school board, district parents said they don't see much change under the new management. Twice as many said things are currently better (15%) in the district than said they are worse (7%) but just over two-thirds (67%) said the school district has not changed at all.
     While some community leaders have said it is necessary that the next superintendent be representative of the diverse nature of the district's children, and/or a business person or someone from outside the field of education, district parents indicated they don't feel either of those issues are terribly important. Seven in ten said it is not at all important that the superintendent be the same race as their child. Twenty-two percent of Latino parents and 14% of all district parents said it is very or somewhat' important that the next superintendent be Latino, but the vast majority disagreed.
     More important to area parents is selecting the next superintendent from among the ranks of professional educators. Three quarters of all parents indicated their preference that the superintendent not be brought in from outside the system.

How the Poll Was Conducted      The Times Poll contacted 2,202 residents in Los Angeles county, including 1,404 residents living in the Los Angeles Unified School District, by telephone March 29 through April 5, 2000. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in Los Angeles county. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and region.
     The margin of sampling error for the entire sample and LAUSD residents is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Asians were interviewed as part of the overall sample, but there were not enough to break out as a separate subgroup.