GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

New York City residents won’t be appointing Mayor Bloomberg as students’ chief lobbyist any time soon.

Nearly twice as many New Yorkers trust the teachers union to protect students’ interests than they do Bloomberg, according to a new poll out of Quinnipiac University. Bloomberg’s approval rating on schools has hovered around 25 percent since early 2011, according to the poll.

The poll, conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 5, found that 56 percent of registered voters in New York City say they trust the union more to go to bat for students. Less than a third, 31 percent, said they trust Bloomberg more. (The poll of 1,222 registered voters had a margin of error of 2.8 percent.)

Among households containing public school students, the split was even more pronounced. Just 21 percent of those voters picked Bloomberg, and 69 percent chose the teachers union. Parents’ backed the union more often than even households with union members.

The news comes in an education-packed poll conducted after a month in which in a showdown over new teacher evaluations led Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo each to ratchet up rhetoric against teachers and their unions. The poll found that the percentage of New Yorkers with favorable opinions of teachers had fallen, from 54 percent last March to 47 percent now.

But while a different poll earlier this week found high approval for Cuomo’s school policies, a set of questions designed to assess New Yorkers’ feelings about a slate of policy initiatives Bloomberg proposed during his State of the City address last month elicited mixed results. (more…)

Eight months on the job has done little to boost Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott’s image in the eye of New Yorkers.

A Quinnipiac poll released today shows Walcott’s approval rating as essentially unchanged since he became chancellor in April. But his disapproval rating is way up.

According to the poll, 33 percent of New Yorkers approve of Walcott’s handling of his job. That’s up just 2 points from a similar poll in May, a month after he became chancellor.

During the same period, his disapproval rating swung from from 21 percent to 34 percent. His disapproval rating among public school parents rose from 32 percent to 45 percent.

It appears that many of the people who have made up their minds about Walcott since April have decided they do not approve of his job performance. (more…)

A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning found that most New Yorkers do not think publishing executive Cathie Black is qualified to run the city’s school system. Her approval rating dropped further when voters with children in the public schools were polled.

Sixty-two percent of parents with children in the public school system disapprove of Mayor Bloomberg’s choice for the next chancellor and 63 percent say Black isn’t qualified. Fifty-one percent of voters in general think she’s not fit for the job.

A majority of voters, 64 percent, think that experience in education is important for whoever manages the city’s school system.

“Do New Yorkers approve of the Black appointment? Does she have the right experience? No and no, voters say,” said Quinnipiac pollster Mickey Carroll in a statement. (more…)

Public support for Bloomberg’s school control is at its lowest point since 2003, and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s approval rating has also taken a hit, according to poll results released today.

After a month packed with contentious public hearings about Klein’s tenure as chancellor, his approval rating dropped 7 points, to 37 percent, according to a new poll out of Quinnipiac University. His approval rating is lowest among blacks, Hispanics, residents of the Bronx, and women. It’s also just four points higher than his all-time low, posted two years ago just after mid-year school bus route changes frustrated parents citywide.

Approval for how Mayor Bloomberg is handling the public schools has also dropped, to 47 percent from 50 percent a month ago, giving him the lowest approval rating on his education efforts since May 2003. Just 46 percent of New Yorkers said they thought the mayor’s takeover of the public schools has been a success. Public school parents rated the mayor the worst: Just 41 percent of them said they approved of the job he’s doing, and 54 percent said they disapproved.

The poll indicates that the public still supports the idea of mayoral control. A majority, 52 percent, said the school governance structure should continue after June 30, when the law creating it is set to expire. (more…)

Yesterday’s Quinnipiac poll results showed the chancellor’s popularity holding steady. But no one would call him popular — his approval rating has never broken the 50 percent mark.

Not true for charter schools. The poll results Quinnipiac released today show that 67 percent of registered voters in New York City want to see more charter schools open. Among public school parents, the number rose to 72 percent. Support for an expansion was highest in Brooklyn and the Bronx, where charters are prevalent. One caveat: Only registered voters were polled. In a city of immigrants, many public school parents are not registered to vote.

As far as I can tell, this is the first time Quinnipiac has asked about charters. (more…)