The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has launched the PARCA Education Research Center, a dedicated center within PARCA that houses the organization’s longstanding education analysis and expands it into a sustained, independent research program on the questions now facing Alabama’s policymakers and school leaders.
The Center opens with the release of the 2026 Alabama Public Opinion Survey.
Alabama is in the middle of the most consequential period of education policymaking in a generation: a new student-weighted funding framework, education savings accounts under the CHOOSE Act, third-grade retention under the Literacy Act, new instructional mandates, and continued pressure on the educator workforce. Decisions of that scale deserve independent evidence, and the Center exists to supply it.
The 2026 Alabama Public Opinion Survey
The Center’s first release is PARCA’s 2026 Alabama Public Opinion Survey, which asked a statewide sample of Alabama adults about state budget priorities, education funding, school choice, and who should make education policy decisions. Alabamians continue to say schools are underfunded and remain willing to pay more to fund them — without agreeing on which tax to raise. They are evenly divided on the CHOOSE Act, and that division shifts sharply when the question includes an effect on public school funding.
Among the findings:
- Education remains the highest-ranked area of state government activity, but for the first time since PARCA began asking in 2014, it does not lead outright: 40% rank healthcare first, statistically indistinguishable from education at 39%.
- Roughly three in four Alabamians (76%) say too little is spent on education, in line with every survey since 2014. Early childhood (66%) and K-12 (73%) are seen as the most underfunded.
- No single tax increase — property, sales, online sales, or income — draws majority support, yet two-thirds (66%) are willing to pay more of at least one of them.
- More than three-quarters (78%) say online sales tax revenue should be shared with local schools the same way local sales taxes are.
- Three-quarters (75%) favor using some of the state’s education reserve funds for current needs rather than holding them entirely in reserve — most often to update school funding formulas (70%), improve school safety (70%), and renovate facilities and equipment (66%).
- The top priority for new education dollars is increasing employee pay and benefits (39%), followed by expanding services for students with special needs (20%) and mental health supports (14%).
- Alabamians divide almost exactly in half on the CHOOSE Act: 48% support, 50% oppose.
- A majority (54%) say they would choose a public school for their own children or grandchildren; 22% would choose a private school, and 20% homeschooling.
- Between 73% and 94% say private schools accepting state funds should meet the standards public schools meet — including academic standards, published report cards, financial audits, teacher qualifications, and admitting students regardless of aptitude or disability.
As in past years, the results point to opportunities for state and local officials to demonstrate responsiveness to public concerns and leadership in crafting policy solutions.