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Education remains among the top priorities for Alabama taxpayers, but it is in a statistical dead heat this year with healthcare in the annual PARCA Public Opinion Survey.
The survey by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama showed that 40.10% of Alabamians consider healthcare the most important service the state provides, with 39.43% saying education, 13.02% saying public safety and 7.44% saying highways.
However, Alabamians said they were most concerned about education receiving too little funding. Of respondents, 76.48% said they thought education received too little funding, with 73.24% saying the same about healthcare. Fewer than half of those surveyed said public safety or highways received too little funding.
The results of the annual survey were released the same week Birmingham City Schools passed its budget for the 2027 fiscal year. The total budget is $544.97 million, which is $63.67 million more than the 2026 budget, according to a statement from Superintendent Mark Sullivan.
That budget includes $30 million for a Future Ready Career and Innovation Center, which also received $40 million from the city this year. It also includes $77.8 million for capital projects and it continues money for programs to keep and retain teachers.
Funding to build and maintain school structures and more money to raise pay and benefits also were concerns of Alabama taxpayers reflected in the PARCA survey.
About two-thirds of respondents said they were willing to pay more in taxes to fund education. But there was no consensus on what type of taxes they would be willing to raise, choosing among property, income, sales or internet taxes.
Click on image to read the full PARCA report.
“So, the public appears willing to invest in education but does not agree on how to do it,” PARCA’s report states.
If new money is raised for schools, 39% — the largest share — favor using it to increase employee pay and benefits.
Three-quarters of those surveyed said at least some of the reserves the state has built up for the education budget should be spent on resolving current needs in schools. About 70% of respondents favored using money to improve school safety, and the same amount supported updating school funding formulas. About two-thirds listed support using reserve funds on new and existing facilities and about half want to update school buses.
Concerns about school funding also erode support for Choose Act vouchers to pay for private or home-schooling if, in fact, it came to a choice.
All things being equal, about half of the state supports the vouchers, 48%, and half do not, 50%. But if it meant reducing money going to public schools, the number who oppose funding the vouchers rises to 70%, according to the survey.
“In addition to generally supporting public schools, residents say that private schools that accept state funds should be subject to the same accountability mechanisms and standards as public schools,” the survey reported.
