Questions for Milwaukee teachers’ union on poll results
The poll raises more questions than it answers – How it was conducted?
Milwaukee — This Monday, the Milwaukee teacher’s union (Milwaukee Teachers Education Association) announced it had commissioned a poll to gauge public sentiment on a potential referendum to dramatically raise Milwaukee’s property taxes. According to the union’s president, as quoted in local media, the poll showed 56% of city residents supporting a $150 increase in every $100,000 of assessed property value. That figure was just 1/10th of what union-backed school district directors recently proposed at a referendum task force meeting in November.
The poll raises more questions than it answers – How it was conducted? Was it methodologically sound? Did it include a legitimate sample size representative of actual voter demographics? Most importantly: Were those polled presented with multiple tax increase amounts, or only the amount reported? Without this information, it is impossible to know the true credibility of any poll.
Rather than covering a teacher’s union rally touting the support of a bare majority of an unknown pool of residents, local media should demand to see the entirety of the poll results, and reporters should question why the union is spinning a support for a much smaller-than-proposed referendum as any mandate for a vastly larger tax increase.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
More about the 2020 MPS Referendum
- Near-Record Year for School Referendums - Madeline Fox - Apr 15th, 2020
- Data Wonk: Why The MPS Referendum Is Needed - Bruce Thompson - Mar 11th, 2020
- Op Ed: Why I’m Canvassing for MPS - Chloe Smith - Feb 26th, 2020
- Murphy’s Law: Poll Shows Surprising Support for MPS - Bruce Murphy - Feb 12th, 2020
- The Educator: The Rationale for MPS Referendum - Terry Falk - Jan 14th, 2020
- Milwaukee Board of School Directors Votes to go to Referendum - Milwaukee Public Schools - Dec 20th, 2019
- Questions for Milwaukee teachers’ union on poll results - Milwaukee Works, Inc. - Dec 12th, 2019
- Op Ed: Say Yes To MPS Referendum - Julie Rowley - Dec 5th, 2019
- Data Wonk: Would MPS Referendum Pass? Should it? - Bruce Thompson - Aug 7th, 2019
Read more about 2020 MPS Referendum here
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