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* Quality of Education

* Education Methods and Performance

* Education Funding

* Extracurricular Activities

* Assignment Policy

"In general, what kind of a job do you think Minnesota public schools do in preparing children for their future – an excellent job, a pretty good job, only a fair job or a poor job?"

"In general, what kind of a job do you think the district in which you live does in preparing children for their future – an excellent job, a pretty good job, only a fair job or a poor job?"

"(Now some questions about (St. Paul / Minneapolis) schools). In general, what kind of a job do you think (St. Paul / Minneapolis) public schools do in preparing children for their future: excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

# Poll of St. Paul residents only.
## Poll of Minneapolis residents only.

"In general, do you think that the state should set the guidelines for what students should know, or do you think the state should require teachers to teach specific facts in the classroom?"

"(As you may know, in the past several years there have been different views about the best way to measure school and teacher performance, and their students’ progress.) In your opinion, is there too much emphasis on achievement testing in Minnesota public schools, about the right amount, or not enough emphasis on achievement testing?"

"Do you favor or oppose a plan that would base the salaries of public school teachers on how well their students perform, rather than on seniority and the amount of education they have?"

"Do you approve or disapprove of the federal plan that requires states to penalize schools when students don’t improve on standardized tests?"

"Thinking about things that could be done to improve public schools in St. Paul. Which one of the following do you think would be most effective in improving student achievement? …
A) Provide more tax money for schools
B) Allow parents to have more say in the way schools are run
C) Hold back students who perform far below their grade level
D) Provide additional funds and other resources to the schools where student test scores are lowest." #

# Poll of St. Paul residents only.

"(School districts get funding from several places. The state Legislature decides every two years how much money public schools get from the state.) In the past several years, do you think the state Legislature has allocated too much money for kindergarten through 12th grade education, about the right amount, or not enough?"

"On the whole, do you think the state's public schools waste a lot of their funding or do they generally spend their funding wisely?"

"On the whole, do you think your school district wastes a lot of its funding or does it generally spend the funding wisely?"

"Governor Pawlenty proposes reducing state college and university funding, which will cause large increases in tuition. He also proposes keeping kindergarten through 12th grade classroom funding about the same as it has been. When it comes to education funding, which of the following comes closest to your opinion? … He should have found some way to balance the budget without cutting any education funding; The governor did the right thing; OR Funding for both higher education and K-12 education should be reduced to help the state's budget problems."

"Educators say the Legislature needs to increase funding for elementary and secondary public schools because they received too little during the 1990s and now need to catch up. Governor Ventura wants more education funding than last year, but much less than educators have requested as a way of keeping government spending down. Do you think the Legislature should provide significantly more funding for schools or should they go along with Governor Ventura's proposal?"

"The state's public colleges and universities have requested $476 million in additional funding from the Legislature, which they say they must have to keep standards high and pay for their top priorities. Governor Ventura is willing to give them about $100 million in additional funding, but says more than that would contribute too much to the growth of government spending. Do you think the Legislature should give higher education what it says it needs, or what Governor Ventura wants to give it?"

"Which of the following statements comes closest to your opinion... A. The state gave a larger-than-usual amount of money last year to fund K-12 education, and the schools should make do with what the state gave them, OR B. Education was so poorly funded throughout the 1990s that it's going to take additional funding each year from the Legislature to catch up with what the schools need?"

"How important do you think extracurricular activities such as the school band, drama club, sports and the school newspaper are to a young person's education?"

"Which do you think is more important ... 
A) Keeping extracurricular activities even if it means cutting back on classroom funding,
B) Cutting back on extracurricular activities to keep current levels of classroom funding, OR 
C) Increasing taxes to keep funding for both extracurricular activities and classroom education."

"About four years ago, Minneapolis public schools began assigning students to schools closer to their homes, which means that there is less racial balance in some schools. Based on what you know or may have heard, do you think this plan is good or bad for Minneapolis public schools?" #

# Poll of Minneapolis residents only.

"Do you think the neighborhood school assignment policy has helped or hurt student achievement?" #

# Poll of Minneapolis residents only.