Poll: voters want more education reform

A poll of commissioned by one of the nation’s leading education reform groups reports that half of the Connecticut voters surveyed feel the new education law doesn’t go far enough, while 17 percent feel it’s a huge step forward.

Student’s First leader Michelle Rhee points to this poll as reason that her group will be sticking around Connecticut to lobby for the next several years.

The poll of 500 likely voters was done one week after the legislative session concluded by Normington Petts, a group that has done polling for several democrats, including the Rep. Joe Courtney and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Other finding include:

– 68 percent recall hearing or reading about the reforms. For those that have heard about the law, 55 percent support the reforms.

– 82 percent support allowing teachers to be fired based on their evaluations, which is included in the new law

– 79 percent support allowing teachers to only get tenure if rated effective on their evaluations, which is included in the new law.

– 66 percent support increasing funding for charter schools, which was included in the state budget.

– 83 percent support allowing parents to petition the state to intervene in their school, which was not included in the new law.

– 73 percent support informing parents when their child’s teacher is rated as ineffective and give them the opportunity to change teachers, which was not included in the new law.