Across party lines, Californians favor more K-12 funding and civics education, UC Berkeley, Stanford poll finds

Despite growing polarization between political parties in the U.S., Californians are in broad agreement that the state should put more funding towards K-12 education and that California should strengthen its high school civics education, according to a poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and Stanford University’s Center on Democracy among others.

The poll presented a representative sample of more than 700 Californians with different backgrounds and long-term policy ideas, according to a UC Berkeley news release. The participants were first surveyed on 56 policy proposals on housing, homelessness, education, and other issues. After the initial survey, the participants read background materials and held online discussions with experts and other participants. Afterward, they were re-surveyed to see how their opinions had changed.

On that poll, about 80% of respondents agreed California should “strengthen its high school civics education and include experiences with participation, negotiation and compromise in a democracy,” according to the news release. The poll also found that 73% of responds agreed “the state should increase support for K-12 education enough to move California into the top third of student achievement scores nationwide.”