School funding parent poll — March 2024

Parentkind commissioned a poll to speak to 1,000 nationally representative parents in England with at least one child aged 4–18, asking them about their views on school funding, public spending priorities and specific measures that have been suggested to fund an increase in Government spending on education.

Key findings 

School funding cuts

When asked about schools having seen their budgets effectively cut by more than £12bn since 2010, 66% of parents felt they had noticed a big impact on schools. 30% felt that it has had a negative effect on their child’s education.

51% of parents feel that schools get a bad deal with governments deciding how much money to spend on public services. 46% of parents felt that the Chancellor’s announcement of a £3bn increase in spending on schools is not enough.

Raising additional funding for schools

Over two thirds of parents (69%) would support the decision to spend an extra £12bn on schools in England to take budgets back to 2010 levels, even if this meant spending less on other areas or not reducing taxes.

When it comes to actions a government could take to raise additional money for schools, 3 in 4 parents (73%) would support a windfall tax, and two thirds (69%) would support increasing the 45p rate of Income Tax and a similar number (67% would support a one-off millionaires’ wealth tax. 6 in 10 (59%) would support equalising tax from capital gains to be the same as income from work.

Prioritising school funding

3 in 4 parents (76%) agree that spending on school should be the top priority for any future government and 6 in 10 parents (62%) would support the government increasing spending on schools rather than reducing the tax they pay.

Asked to rank the top priority areas for future increases in public spending, the NHS came out as the most common top priority (32% of parents), with reducing tax (16%) and schools (10%) being the next most common.

When it comes to areas ranked in the top three priorities across all parents, the NHS remains highest with 68% of parents rating it in the top three. Spending on schools is second with 43% of parents and reducing tax third with 38%.

Methodology 

This research was conducted online between 7th-11th March 2024 amongst 1,000 parents in England with at least one child aged 4–18. The figures have been weighted to be representative of all parents in England by age, gender, region and ethnic group. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from Omnisis. Analysis and reporting were carried out by Parentkind.

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