Investigation of attitudes towards the financing of public education in Jamaica

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of principals and chairpersons of school boards towards the financing of public education in Jamaica. The possible relationships between the attitudes under investigation and selected demographic variables, namely, age, place of residence, socioeconomic background, educational background and professional status were also examined. The data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire that was developed by this researcher. The questionnaire sought information regarding respondents' age, occupation, educational attainment and place of residence. In addition, a Likert-type five-point scale was used to assess the attitudes being investigated. A random sample of 316 persons equally divided between principals and chairpersons was selected. From this sample 222 responded to the survey questionnaire. Analysis of the data produced the following findings. First, the principals and chairpersons believed that there should be equity in the distribution of financial resources to enable each child to receive the best educational opportunities without regard to place of residence or socioeconomic background. Second, they believed that the role of the government is to implement the policy options that would ensure increased resource flow to the education sector. Third, the respondents demonstrated a positive attitude towards priority being given to the financing of primary education over that of tertiary education. Fourth, they indicated that business and industry should play a more important role in the financing of schools. Analysis with respect to the independent variables produced the following results. A significant difference was found between the attitudes of the principals and the chairpersons towards the financing of primary and secondary education. The principals rated the items dealing with this variable higher than did the chairpersons. Second, there was a significant difference between the subjects from the rural and urban areas on their attitudes towards equity and the financing of primary and secondary education. The items dealing with both variables were rated higher by the rural subjects than by their urban counterparts. Third, respondents who were university graduates demonstrated a more positive attitude towards the need for equity and the government to implement policies that would increase the flow of financial resources to education. On the basis of the findings, recommendations for action and for further research were made. One of the most important recommendations was for the government to change the present finance program to one which gives priority to primary education.