ELON (December 17, 2025) – North Carolinians are confused by their state’s education structure. But they do know schools are underfunded, teachers are paid too little and the chief culprit is state government, according to a new survey by the Elon University Poll.

Asked to list the top three reasons schools underperform, “Sixty percent identified the real problem: insufficient funding,” said Ann Bullock, dean of the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education at Elon.

“Schools need to be funded at a level to meet the needs of the students in each community. Education needs to be a priority for change to happen.”

The poll of 800 North Carolina adults – the survey did not screen for registered voters – found that respondents give mediocre marks to the state’s schools, with the lowest ratings assigned to traditional public schools.

Poll respondents gave low marks to the state’s top education and political leaders: 50% said they do not work well together to improve schools, while 35%  said the leaders work well on behalf of schools.

“We found clear evidence that North Carolinians want to see more effective governance of K-12 schools,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll. “A large majority thought state government bears some of the blame when schools underperform.”

AND THERE WAS broad agreement that the state’s teachers are underpaid – 71% of poll respondents said so.

Respondents underestimated how much teachers are paid, however.

The average guess about average teacher pay in the state was $42,257, while the average calculated by the National Education Association is $58,292, which ranks 43rd among the states. The state’s average starting teacher pay is $42,542.

Among other findings:

•45% said they would encourage their child or a close family member to become a K-12 teacher in North Carolina; 40% said they would not.

•48% said K-12 teachers receive a great deal or fair amount of respect from the public; 41% said teachers receive not much or no respect.

•82% said they would support a state-funded teacher training program that would let students earn a debt-free college degree with intensive teacher training, in exchange for working as a K-12 teacher in North Carolina for several years.

BUT EVEN AS they expressed confusion about structure – many didn’t know the State Superintendent is an elected position or that local voters elect local school boards, for example – North Carolinians seem to know where to place the blame.

Some 46% blame state government for poor school performance, while 44% blame local school boards and 30% blame disengaged parents. 

Only 19% blame teachers.

The survey, conducted from Nov. 19 to Dec. 1, included 800 adults in North Carolina and has a margin of error of +/- 4.24%. For more detailed information on the results, see a summary here or charts and more survey data here.