Achieve Escambia needs to pay attention to survey results

Achieve Escambia – the non-profit that touts that it will improve public education “from cradle to career” – has its work cut out of itself, especially among city voters.

According to the PYP Quality of Life Survey, 72.7 percent of city voters had a negative view of the performance of the Escambia County Public School system in preparing students for careers – 18.3 points worse than 2016. The city voters who believe the schools are improving dropped 28.7 points. Outside city limits the attitudes were the same as last year.

The negative attitude among city voters is bad news for developers trying to lure people to their new housing developments inside the city limits. Families with children may not be their best market.

These percentages match the similar attitudes city voters had about Superintendent Malcom Thomas and the School Board. Thomas had his job performance rating drop 32 points, School Board 33.5 points.  City voters’ belief that that can receive a quality public education dropped 28.7 points.