[Excerpt] In summary, the ongoing battle over education reform and emerging demographic trends do not bode well for the success of reform efforts in this country and probably mean tougher, if nonetheless more interesting, days at the bargaining table. In recent years taxpayers have been willing to support increased expenditures for public education. But sooner or later taxpayers will want to see results. Both liberal and conservative politicians have been staunch supporters of the school reform movement, but politicians are a notoriously fickle group. To improve the quality of education, we need a sustained effort over an indefinite period of time. We need patience and resolve. But as the task of improving education gets tougher and tougher, many politicians are likely to turn their attention to other targets of opportunity. It may be that we are currently at the peak of the school reform movement — that the movement has crested and will recede in the face of political squabbles and frustrated hopes.