Forum audience backs $250M for school repairs, construction

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Publick Occurrences forum Monday night persuaded a significant portion of audience members that they should vote for a proposed bond referendum that would provide $250 million for school repairs and construction, according to a survey of audience members.

Publick Occurrences, sponsored by The Providence Journal, Leadership Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, has been held several times a year for the last eight years and examines some of the leading issues of the day. Monday night's forum, at RIC's Sapinsley Hall, looked at the deteriorating state of Rhode Island's public schools and a proposal for the state to borrow $250 million to address the deficiencies.

A total of 104 audience members were given electronic remote controls with which they could anonymously answer multiple-choice questions on the subject.

Before the program began, audience members were asked how they would vote on the proposed referendum. Fifty-seven percent said they would vote in favor, while 30 percent said they needed more information to make a decision.

At the end of the program, the percentage in favor grew to 82, while those needing more information dropped to 10 percent.

Of those who said they needed more information the first time around, 67 percent changed to voting in favor, while 30 percent said they still needed more information. Less than 4 percent went from needing more information to opposing the plan.

Eighty-seven percent of those with children in public schools favored the plan at the end. They were joined by 60 percent of the people with children in private or parochial schools and 81 percent of people without children in school.

In all, 18 percent of the audience had children in public schools, 6 percent in private schools and 76 percent did not have children in school.

Audience members were about evenly split whether local school districts were to blame for the condition of schools, with 51 percent saying district and 49 percent saying the governor and General Assembly.

They were more decisive on whether they trust the government to distribute the money for school construction fairly and efficiently, with 58 percent saying no.

The survey only shows how the audience members with remotes answered the questions. The results are not a statistically significant indicator of how the general public would answer the same questions.