(Poll finds deep concern with quality of education, preparation in U.S.)

At a time when many states are debating or having difficulty financing publicly funded pre-kindergarten, some troubling -- but hardly surprising -- news about U.S. education was revealed in a poll released by the Associated Press and carried in USA Today and other newspapers on Friday.

Half of Americans surveyed found U.S. Schools are doing only a fair to poor job of preparing students for college and the workplace, even though education ranks behind only the economy and gas prices as a top issue for Americans.

Another half said the U.S. education system is falling behind that of other countries, and six in 10 said the quality of American schools has declined in the past 20 years.

The AP survey of 833 adults and 854 parents, financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by the consumer information company Knowledge Networks, follows a poll of kindergarten teachers in 2004 that found kids who did not attend quality pre-kindergarten arrive at school unprepared.