More than half of Orange County residents give high marks to their public schools and believe smaller classes have made a big difference this year in teaching youngsters basic skills, a Times Orange County Poll has found.
The optimism about the state's drive to give students from kindergarten to third grade more personal contact with teachers comes despite the lack of any hard data that the $1-billion investment has worked.
But three of every five county residents polled recently said capping class size at 20 students apiece has made "a big difference" in teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Parents with young children tended to be even more enthusiastic.
"I think it's wonderful. I wish they could do it right through sixth grade," said Susan Altholtz of Anaheim. Her 6-year-old son, Joe, is in a first-grade class of 18 this year after going through kindergarten with 30 other students.
"They have time to be rushed when they're older," Altholtz added. "But kids need the nurturing, to give them a little push and show them they're important."
On other education issues, residents displayed Orange County's trademark conservatism. Often, their views were at odds with those of many education policy makers. Among the key findings:
* Three of every five residents favored giving parents publicly funded vouchers that could help pay private school tuition, an idea anathema to most public school leaders.
* The same proportion said they would back conservative school board candidates.
* Four of five said schools should spend more time teaching basic skills.
* On bilingual education, nine of 10 residents said they prefer teaching kids mostly or entirely in English, even if they are not fluent in the language.
* Seven of 10 backed said they want more "charter schools," which seek to shift power over curriculum and spending from school districts to individual schools.
In general, the poll revealed a breach between how people feel about their own schools--generally thumbs up--and how they feel about the system--generally dissatisfied.
"That is troubling for education professionals and policy makers," said Louis Miron, head of the education department at UC Irvine. "They're caught in a no-win situation. What more can they be expected to do?"
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The Times polled 750 county residents from May 16-19 as an eventful school year was nearing a close and politicians from Washington to Sacramento debated education reforms. The poll, conducted by Mark Baldassare and Associates, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
School districts throughout the county hired hundreds of new primary-grade teachers to staff the smaller classes, and laid plans for hiring more over the next year. A burst of student enrollment also forced many administrators to redraw school boundaries, reopen once-closed schools and plunk down portable classrooms as fast as they could be bought.
Amid the hubbub, county residents remain generally pleased with their schools. The poll found 54% give their public schools an A or B grade, compared with 43% in a nationwide Gallup poll last year.
"I feel good about my public school," said Charles Spencer of Trabuco Canyon, whose child attends Robinson Elementary. "I'd give it a B-plus because of the principal and the way he conducts himself and his authority."
But Spencer, like many others, said public education needs some shaking up. He supports school vouchers. "It would give everybody a choice, and it would increase the competitiveness of public and private schools," he said.
California voters rejected school vouchers soundly in 1993, swayed by arguments that the proposal could siphon funds from public schools. In Orange County, the measure failed by a 3-to-2 ratio.
Still, vouchers are finding a strong reception in the county, said Baldassare, an urban planning professor at UC Irvine who directed the poll. So are the quasi-independent charter schools. There is only one such school in the county--in Orange--out of more than 110 statewide.
"It's about choice and control. The basic issues are people having control over their lives and their decisions," Baldassare said. "They feel that choices should be left up to the individual rather than institutions, public institutions in particular."
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Many school officials say the surest way to improve public education is to increase funding for buildings, programs and teachers. They note that California spends less per student than many other states.
The poll found that 57% of Orange County residents favor raising taxes to help schools. But that falls short of the two-thirds voter approval required under California law, and a solid minority here remains hostile to any schools levy.
"I don't ever support any tax increases. The answer would be no," said Angela Robinson of Costa Mesa. She teaches her children at home and gives public schools a grade of D-minus.
