The public ranks education as one of the most important priorities for the new George W. Bush administration. Indeed, Gallup polls conducted this past election year showed that education was consistently at the top of lists of issues the voters wanted discussed.
Education is also near the top of lists of the most important problems facing the country today.
In December 2000, an open-ended question asked Americans to name, off the top of their heads, the top priorities for Bush. It depends on how you ask the question. The American public generally gives higher grades to the state of education in their local communities than they do to the educational system across the country. Similarly, parents give higher grades to the education their children receive than they do to the educational system nationally. A Gallup survey conducted for the international educational association Phi Delta Kappa has shown for years that the grades Americans give to schools in their local communities are much higher than grades they give to schools nationally.