Members of the Tennessee General Assembly, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and its staff, the State Board of Regents and its professional staff, and members of the Presidents' Council and Sub-Councils (N=237) were surveyed to identify the most critical issues facing Tennessee public community colleges and to develop implications for policy development. A response rate of 43% was achieved. From the survey, a set of 12 critical issues emerged. There was a fairly high degree of consensus among the groups on the ratings of importance of these issues: (1) improving instruction; (2) developing more effective means of evaluating faculty performance; (3) assessing instructional effectiveness; (4) making provisions to deal with the energy situation; (5) being accountable for services rendered; (6) improving articulation between community colleges and four-year institutions; (7) balancing students' interest with society's needs for employable graduates; (8) accountability in the expenditure of funds; (9) competition with other agencies for public funds; (10) evaluating program offerings; (11) providing special academic and vocational programs to meet the needs of the labor force; and (12) implementing the concept of lifelong learning. The study report analyzes and compares results by respondent groups, discusses the implications of the findings, and includes the survey instrument and data tables. (Author/AYC)