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3. Can Fairfax and Montgomery counties and our other wealthy suburbs survive another round of budget cuts without losing their status as some of the best public systems in the country? I often call suburban Washington the golden triangle of American schools. No where else is the teaching as good or the standards as high. But tax revenues are down. That will make it difficult to maintain that quality.

4. Can those two sworn enemies, regular and charter public schools, ever learn to live together? The Post recently decided to give separate teacher and principal awards to D.C. charters and D.C. regular schools, since it seems impossible to get those two groups of intelligent and caring educators to agree on anything. That is not good and doesn't help kids.

5. Is there a way a parent can arrange a good education for a child with learning disabilities without going broke, or crazy? I have never covered this important subject very well. I hope to do better.

6. Can our obsession with college admission be turned into a love of learning? Maybe. Maybe not. Stay tuned.

7. What can we do about dropouts? This is the educational problem for which we have the fewest solutions. We need to look for more.

8. Why are colleges so clueless about how to help high schools prepare students for college? Higher education is one of America's bright spots, but this is a big blemish on its record.

9. Can we do anything about the erratic and confusing way children are graded? This is one of the more dangerous topics, but it is heating up in northern Virginia and is worth getting into.

10. How can we produce the best teachers possible for every one of our kids? We are making progress on this one, but slower than we should be.

My e-mail address is mathewsj@washpost.com. Tell me what you know. We may get into a lot of trouble. My contract is only year-to-year. There are great risks in looking closely at schools. But let's give it a try.