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Wyoming Education Association Finds Residents Support Taxes

Tennessee Watson

The Wyoming Education Association, or WEA, released the results of a survey Wednesday that says the majority of Wyoming voters don’t support further cuts to education.  

The WEA hired Public Opinion Strategies to conduct a phone survey with 500 Wyoming voters across the state. Kathy Vetter, president of the WEA, explained her organization felt it was important to contract with the largest Republican pollster in the nation to do the survey given the political makeup of the state.

At a press conference to announce the results, Vetter, said the WEA has been working hard to convince the legislature that cutting education funding hurts Wyoming children. And she said the survey shows that: “Wyoming voters strongly agree K-12 education funding should not be cut. And this is proven across the political spectrum.”

The survey indicates over 80 percent of voters oppose further budget cuts, and just under 80 percent are willing to see taxes increase to support education. Vetter said that support also transcends party lines.

“Three-quarters of Republican voters and over 80 percent of Democrat and Independent voters are willing to pay more in taxes to fund K-12 education,” said Vetter.

The survey also indicates tax increases to wind energy would be most acceptable to Wyoming voters, followed by taxes on minerals and oil and gas, then sales tax and property taxes. The complete results can be found at wyoea.org.

 

Tennessee -- despite what the name might make you think -- was born and raised in the Northeast. She most recently called Vermont home. For the last 15 years she's been making radio -- as a youth radio educator, documentary producer, and now reporter. Her work has aired on Reveal, The Heart, LatinoUSA, Across Women's Lives from PRI, and American RadioWorks. One of her ongoing creative projects is co-producing Wage/Working (a jukebox-based oral history project about workers and income inequality). When she's not reporting, Tennessee likes to go on exploratory running adventures with her mutt Murray.
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