95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State-wide poll reveals Michigan voters opposed using teacher pension dollars for road funding

Pension savings graphic
flickr.com

A recent state-wide poll indicates Michigan voters prefer any road funding budget not come at the expense of education and teacher retirement pensions.

As Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state legislature negotiate increasing road and bridge repair funding, a survey by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA indicates 77 percent of Michigan voters say it’s important teachers and their retirement pensions be protected from any budget deal.

The poll commissioned by the Coalition for Secure Retirement surveyed 600 registered Michigan voters; 42-percent identified as a Democrat and 39-percent Republican.

When asked about a plan to replace the six cents sales tax at the pump with a 15 cent per gallon gas tax increase – and with all the funding going to roads instead of $800 million to schools and local governments, three-in-four voters oppose that idea.

As for teacher benefits, 70 percent of voters surveyed say they are paid too little and nearly eight-in-10 too little in benefits.

Patrick Center, WGVU News.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.