Red for Ed? Heterogeneous support for increased school spending in a conservative state

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveFollowing the Red for Ed movement and recent pandemic‐era impacts on public school spending, we explore preferences for increased school expenditures in conservative political contexts, including total spending, teacher salaries, and taxation.MethodsExamining survey data from a representative sample of Missouri voters, including data from embedded experiments on the provision of school spending information, we estimate spending preferences using regression analyses.ResultsAlthough a majority of Missouri voters favor higher teacher salaries and maintaining or increasing total school spending, opinions vary significantly by political ideology and perception of local school quality. Preferences for modes of taxation are similarly heterogeneous. Voters are sensitive to the provision of information pertaining to school spending practices but insensitive to similar teacher salary information.ConclusionOur findings help inform policy deliberations in conservative settings, where though differences in spending preferences persist, the average opinion may still favor increased school spending and associated tax increases.