The budget cuts to California’s schools are hitting home.

Many more parents of public school children than a year ago say that their local schools are being greatly harmed by spending reductions. And significantly more Californians now say funding for public schools is inadequate.

What they haven’t agreed on is whether they’re willing to pay higher taxes to help schools.

These are the highlights of the annual survey of  2,504 adult Californians on education by the Public Policy Institute of California. It reveals growing concern about the state of education, along with variations by age, race and ethnicity.

Some of the findings:

• A year ago, half of Californians and 58 percent of public school parents said the level of school funding was insufficient. This month, that rose to 62 percent of Californians and 72 percent of school parents – 14 percentage points higher. The views differed by race and ethnicity: 76 percent of African-Americans and 71 percent of Hispanics but only 56 percent of whites and 53 percent of Asians.
• This year, 43 percent of parents said their schools has been affected a lot by budget cuts – 15 percentage points more than last April. An additional 38 percent report their school has been somewhat affected; only 17 percent said their school hasn’t been affected.
• 73 percent said they are very concerned and an additional 19 percent are somewhat concerned about teacher layoffs;  59 percent are very concerned about bigger classes; 56 percent are concerned about fewer days of instruction, and 49 percent are worried about the elimination of after-school and summer programs.
• What hasn’t changed from last year – perhaps reflecting continued worry about the economy and their own jobs – is residents’ willingness to pay higher taxes to maintain the current funding of schools. This year, 49 percent said they support higher taxes and 47 percent oppose, almost identical to the past two years. Six in 10 Democrats favor higher taxes, while seven in 10 Republicans don’t; 60 percent of African-Americans and 56 percent of Hispanics support higher taxes for schools but less than half of Asians (49 percent) and whites (45 percent).
• While 57 percent of the population at large and 52 percent of likely voters would support a parcel tax, that’s still far less than the 67 percent majority required. (If the question were specific to their districts, not generic, the numbers might be higher.)
• Despite their global concerns about the state of  education – more than half said schools are not doing a good job preparing students for college (53 percent) or work (63 percent)  –  a majority of Californians continue to give high marks to their neighborhood schools. And 67 percent of parents give A or B to their local school.
• By a 62-26 percent margin, Californians favor merit pay for teachers, though that’s less than the national average of 72 percent, according to other surveys. Republicans and Bay Area residents favor this by the largest margins. Perhaps showing a familiarity with the issue (and sound judgment),  more Californians would base merit pay on students’ academic improvement (69 percent), as shown by standardized tests, than by straight academic achievement (57 percent). The latter could put teachers in low-income schools at a disadvantage.
• Only 16 percent approve, and 65 percent disapprove of how Gov. Schwarzenegger is handling K-12 schools, matching his lowest marks and an approval drop of 20 percentage points from 2007.