By Josh Cunningham
State legislators have mountains of information constantly coming their way from a host of sources including advocates, the media, constituents, staff, fellow legislators and many others.
Their job involves a very complicated decision-making process that at times appears unpredictable. Knowing how they process and prioritize information may shed light on what motivates their decisions.
A recent survey of state legislators from around the country, conducted and analyzed by EdChoice, attempts to do just that.
The purpose of the survey was to gauge legislative support for various types of school choice programs – all of which are supported by a majority of state legislators who responded to the survey (these results will be discussed in more detail at the end of this post).
But what stands out more than the specific objective relating to school choice is the general and insightful information this survey reveals about the job of being a state legislator and how they make policy decisions.
Some interesting highlights include the sources of information that legislators find most trustworthy – personal contacts and networks, letters/emails/calls from constituents, and legislative staff. The least trustworthy sources of information include lobbyists, public polls and the media.
While the legislators surveyed have little trust in the media, they rely on it for information about current developments in K-12 education policy. Their most frequented media sources for education news include their state capitol’s local newspaper, cable news networks, major network nightly news and Facebook.
Legislators were also asked what aspect of being a legislator was the biggest challenge. More than one-third of the respondents identified ‘time,’ or lack thereof, as their biggest challenge. Younger legislators were more likely to cite ‘time’ as their biggest challenge than older legislators.
When asked about the biggest influence on their voting decisions, the respondents identified direct communications with constituents as well as personal and professional experiences as the biggest influences in how they vote on legislation. Far less influential factors identified were caucus leadership and public opinion polls.
As far as legislator opinions on school choice, the survey asked about three forms of school choice—charter schools, school vouchers and education savings accounts (ESAs). Respondents were given a description of each type of program. 67 percent of respondents support charter schools with 22 percent opposing. ESAs, state-funded grants for a variety of private education services, are supported by 61 percent of the respondents. School vouchers, state-funded private school scholarships, are supported by 52 percent of the respondents. The report breaks these figures down in more detail, including by party affiliation.
The EdChoice legislator survey involved live phone interviews with 344 randomly selected state legislators from around the country. The response rate was 10.2 percent and the margin of error is +/-5.2 percent.
While EdChoice advocates in favor of school choice policies, which much of their analysis in the report makes clear, the methodology used to conduct the survey and measuring the responses appears to be rigorous. The interviews were conducted by Braun Research Inc., an experienced and reputable research firm. There were 7 percent more Republicans who responded and 10 percent fewer Democrats compared to the national partisan composition of state legislatures. The EdChoice survey provides an interesting look at the job of a state legislator and the various challenges they face as they make policy decisions. It includes insights that can be useful for legislators, legislative staff, researchers, advocates and the media.
Disclaimer: EdChoice is a member of the NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures. NCSL provided EdChoice with a list of all 7,528 state legislators from which EdChoice drew a random sample for the survey. NCSL also provided feedback on a draft of the report. NCSL does not endorse any conclusions or opinions expressed in the report.
Josh Cunningham is a senior education policy specialist in NCSL's education program.
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