Nearly three-quarters of Connecticut voters are satisfied with the quality of public education, yet only four out of 10 believe state government covers enough of the cost, according to a new poll commissioned by a coalition of municipal leaders, education advocates and others. The online poll, commissioned by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, also found two-thirds of voters believe all Connecticut school districts should provide equal funding, a challenge the state has grappled with yet failed to meet for decades. The survey, which queried 400 voters between Jan. 6 and 13 and has a 4.85% margin of error, also found almost 86% of respondents said say municipal property taxes are too high, and slightly more than half said education funding should be a top priority for the state, even if it means increasing state taxes. “There is a broad consensus that education funding is a priority among the electorate with many believing the state should provide more support, especially to address disparities among cities and towns, educational inequalities and the effectiveness of the education system,” Joe DeLong, CCM’s executive director, said during a mid-morning online press conference. Of those polled, 45.2% rated overall funding for public education, from all sources, either “excellent” or “good,” with another 33% calling it “fair.” Another 16.5% called it “poor” or “very poor” with the remaining 5.3% unsure. There was less confusion about education relative to Connecticut’s future economic success, with 95.5% calling it “very important” or “somewhat important.” And 65.1% said all cities and towns here should receive equal funding for education, compared with 22.9% who disagreed. Furthermore, 85.1% said it’s state government’s job — and not municipal taxpayers’ — to close that disparity gap. The survey found 86% of respondents say local property taxes already are too high. And 53.5% said state government must find a way to prioritize education, even if it means boosting state taxes, while 30.6% were opposed to that idea and almost 16% were unsure. “It’s not an overwhelming majority of residents who are saying ‘Yes, please raise my taxes,’” DeLong said. “But there is a fairly significant number of residents, a fairly overwhelming majority of residents, who are saying that education should be a priority within the budget, it should be funded first and the state should play a major role in equalizing that funding.” In 2017, state legislators approved a long-range plan to bolster the Education Cost Sharing grant, the state’s chief means of funding K-12 districts. But critics say even with those enhancements to the $2.3 billion grant program, Connecticut has massive disparities in educational equality between affluent suburban districts and schools in the state’s poorest urban centers. Connecticut supports about 36% of K-12 education costs, one of the lowest percentages of any state in the nation, and well below the 41-45% range of neighboring states, according to CCM. Education advocates also have been particularly critical in recent years of Connecticut’s Excess Cost grant program, which covers a portion of the high expense districts face serving special needs students. For example, districts collectively project a $90 million gap next fiscal year between the cost of serving students with special needs and available state funding for these programs, according to said Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. CCM spearheaded an effort last year to raise awareness about nearly 120,000 at-risk or “disconnected” youths in Connecticut. This refers students and adults between the ages 14 to 26 who are disconnected or at risk of being disconnected from school or employment, based on factors such as chronic absenteeism, behavioral issues and leaving school without a degree or other path to employment. “The CCM poll clearly articulates that the vast majority of Connecticut residents believe that the state must prioritize education funding and pay close attention to our most challenged districts,” Rabinowitz said Tuesday. “This once again validates CAPSS No. 1 priority that the General Assembly must significantly increase funding for education staff and services to ensure success for every child in Connecticut.” In late September, the CT Mirror published an investigation about a Hartford student who graduated without the ability to read or write despite spending almost her entire educational journey in the Connecticut public school system. The story prompted a response from several lawmakers who said it would be an ongoing conversation this legislative session.  CCM and a philanthropic education group launched by hedge-fund Ray Dalio recommended in an October report that Connecticut begin a decade-long strategy of investing an unprecedented $900 million-to-$1 billion in K-12 education, job training, mental health and social services. Respondents in the poll released Tuesday were split about the state’s response to addressing disconnected youth, with about 35% saying state initiatives have been somewhat effective and 30% saying it has been somewhat ineffective. Some critics of CCM’s plan to assist disconnected youth note that current state budget controls, dubbed “fiscal guardrails” by Gov. Ned Lamont and other supporters, likely would block such a large investment. Connecticut amassed enormous pension debt through inadequate savings policies that stretched across seven decades prior to 2011. Those fiscal mistakes took a heavy toll in the 2010s, forcing two major tax hikes and triggering numerous state budget deficits as surging mandatory pension contributions ate up resources even as a sluggish economy limited tax receipts. But critics of these “guardrails” say state officials have overcorrected and now are saving excessively. Since 2020, more than $1 out of every $5 that had been earmarked for the General Fund has found its way into pension programs for state employees and municipal teachers, nearly double the savings pace of the 2010s. Many of Lamont’s fellow Democrats in the House and Senate majorities say these guardrails should not be abandoned but adjusted. They say Connecticut can balance its books, pay down extra debt and better fund core programs like education, health care and social services. The new poll found that a plurality of voters, 43.7%, support these budget controls while 36.1% oppose them and 20.2% are unsure. The survey didn’t ask participants any questions about retaining the fiscal controls but recalibrating how much they would save.