The Future Directions in Iowa Education program was designed with three purposes in mind. First, the program was designed to provide local participants with the latest perspectives on current statewide trends in Iowa schools, school fiananceand legislative options. Second, the program was designed to provide each participant with data on local school district trends and directions for comparison with neighboring districts„ Finallv™ the program was designed to provide each participant with a sense of direction (or lack thereof) on manv of the major education issues as a result of discussions with other state and local leaders- As a result, the authors hope that the statewide tabulations included in this report represent more informed •judgement in comparison to random surveys of Iowa citizens