These are critical times for Ohio's system of educating its young people. Initiatives to reform the public schools have been gaining momentum for some time. Elected officials, organized interest groups, think tanks, and civic leaders are tugging and pulling at the system, trying to move it this way or that. But where do the people of Ohio--the parents and taxpayers--truly stand on the education issues of the day? The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, sensing it was time to check with the public, asked the FDR Group--a national nonpartisan research company with expertise in surveys, focus groups, and program evaluation--to conduct a comprehensive and rigorous study of the attitudes of Ohioans. The study is based upon 1,001 telephone interviews with randomly selected Ohioans, including 278 parents of students in grades K-12. The sample is augmented so that the views of African Americans (202 were interviewed) and Dayton residents (201 were interviewed) could be reliably reported as well. The survey asks participants for their views on the state of the public schools, academic standards, charter schools, school vouchers, and teacher quality. It was found that 42 percent of Ohio residents believe that a high school diploma from their local public schools is "no guarantee that the typical student has learned the basics." Among African Americans, it is 54 percent. The vast majority of Ohioans (69 percent) believe that if their state decided to put more money into the public schools the money would "actually get lost along the way." Most (58 percent) believe that the taxpayers in their community are not getting their money?s worth from the public schools. Among African Americans, it's 72 percent.51 percent think that social promotion is the rule in Ohio today; just 27 percent believe that students are promoted "only when they learn what they are supposed to know. 49 percent of parents with kids in public district schools say they would exit the system and send their kids to a private school, if money were not an issue.