Voters in Stockton are pessimistic about job opportunities for people without college degrees and almost seventy percent (70%) of parents say local public schools need to change.

San Joaquin A+ worked with a nationally recognized research organization called Public Opinion Strategies to conduct a telephone survey in Stockton, CA. The survey was conducted January 8-11, 2023. The survey was conducted among with 200 registered voters in Stockton, with an oversample of parents. The margin of error for a survey with 200 respondents in this context is ±6.93%.

“The headline finding for us at San Joaquin A+ is that voters overwhelmingly support creating an early college high school program in Stockton (92% support) across party lines and education backgrounds,” shared Don Shalvey, CEO of San Joaquin A+.

“This support is largely driven by families being attracted to opportunities for students to receive college credits while still in high school, and by the belief that proposals for Early College and Career Oriented High Schools would lead to greater career options for youth in Stockton,” he continued. “These responses reinforce a core goal of San Joaquin A+, which is to work with local schools to prepare young people to do what they love and earn what they need to have a family sustaining income by the age of 26.”

Other core findings include the following:

  • Voters in Stockton are pessimistic about job opportunities for people without college degrees.
    • Fifty-one percent (51%) said that job opportunities were not good/poor for people without a college degree. 
  • Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters say local public schools need to change. Almost 70% of parents say this. 
    • The main changes they say are needed include school discipline, more attention to students, school administration, and school safety.
  • When it comes to their neighborhood, 85% agree that improvements to local schools would make them feel better about their community.
    • 69% say increasing the availability of public charter schools would improve local schools.
  • Twenty-eight percent (28%) of voters have gained a less favorable opinion of local public schools over the past year. 
    • Those who have a less favorable opinion of local public schools most frequently cite a social agenda in schools and a lack of safety (including violence/shootings in schools).
  • Just 40% of voters believe education in the city is headed in the right direction. 
    • 34% say public education is headed off on the wrong track. 25% don’t know.
    • Voters of color are much more positive on this measure (49% right direction). 
    • Voters are most likely to hold the school board and the superintendent/district officials responsible for the quality of local schools. 
    • Location, safety, and academic programs are the top things parents consider when choosing a public school. 

See the graphic below for data on who participated in the survey.

San Joaquin A+ conducts polls of voters and local families periodically to inform our work to improve education, to read another survey we’ve conducted recently, see below: