By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

The results of a national Gallup Poll this week should come as no surprise to Hawai'i parents: People love their schools and think everyone else's stink.

National polls have consistently shown that people rate their child's school well, while other schools in their communities receive so-so grades, and the nation's education system as a whole gets a grade of C or worse.

The survey, the 34th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, was released Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

It showed that the closer people were to a school, the more they liked it.

More than 70 percent of parents of public school children gave their school a grade of A or B. Just under half gave the schools in their community a grade of A or B. And only 24 percent of people gave the nation's public schools as a whole a grade of A or B; 16 percent gave them a D or F.

The 2001 Hawai'i Opinion Poll on Public Education showed that people feel much the same way here, even though they don't think quite as favorably of Hawai'i's schools as other people think of their community schools.

Nearly half of Hawai'i's parents rated their child's school with a grade of A or B.

Only 19.4 percent of parents gave public schools in Hawai'i a grade of A or B. But when it came to public schools nationally, opinions rose.

Nearly 30 percent of Hawai'i parents thought that schools nationally rated an A or B. Less than 10 percent would give the nation's schools a D or F, while about 23 percent would give Hawai'i's school a D or F.

Longtime financial problems, a giant repair and maintenance backlog and low test scores have likely contributed to the lower opinions people here have of Hawai'i public schools. People cited low teacher salaries and inadequate facilities as the biggest problems facing Hawai'i schools, according to the Hawai'i-based poll.

The new Gallup Poll also sought Americans' opinions on the No Child Left Behind Act, a federal education law that mandates yearly improvement at the nation's high-poverty schools. Schools could eventually lose federal money if they fail to improve.

Hawai'i educators and others around the country have scrambled to implement the law, which took effect in January.

Most Americans say the increase in the federal government's role in local public schools will be a good thing.

Two-thirds agree with a provision that requires states to track the progress of students in grades 3 to 8 through an annual standardized test. States can develop their own tests to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, but more than half of the people polled thought it would be best to have a nationally standardized test.

More than nine in 10 Americans agree with the provision that teachers must be licensed by the state in the subject areas they teach by 2005. More than 95 percent believe that public school teachers should be required to take state competency tests in the subjects they teach.

With a growing nationwide teacher shortage, that's likely to be one of the most difficult provisions of the law for school districts to meet.

The Gallup Poll was based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adults in June. Results can be viewed at www.gallup.com.