The costs will more than double, but the state Department of Education hopes newly designed opinion polls will be a more perceptive gauge of the public's education concerns.

The plan is to sample public opinion twice a year instead of once every two years, according to a presentation to a Board of Education committee last week, with a set of "leaner and quicker perception polls."

The idea, according to the report, is to "gather and track the public's perceptions needed to garner support for system improvement."

Each twice-a-year sampling will cost between $10,000 and $20,000, according to the department.

That compares to a very similar cost for the Hawai'i Opinion Poll of the past. But the new polls will not be printed in the fancy binders of the past, hence saving money there.

In the past, the poll has focused on just a few questions, among them queries about whether the schools are improving; how the respondent would grade the state school system, their community schools and their child's individual school; and what they consider the biggest problems facing the public schools.

The new polls will be much more focused, concentrating on issues of the moment, according to Betsy Brandt, an evaluation specialist with the System Evaluation and Reporting Section.

"If the board is thinking of adopting a new policy, then let's go out and find out about it," says Brandt. "That's more directly relevant."

Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said she wants the new poll to more closely replicate the annual survey of military parents, which looks at such things as whether their children feel safe in their schools and whether the parents feel safe when they send their child to school.

She said she also hopes it will bring more public trust to the department.

"This will help us drill down to see what we have to do next," she told the committee.

The polls of the past have helped the department identify at least one public concern — funding for public education — which helped the department take its case strongly to the Legislature and find sympathetic ears.

Brandt said there will be input on what to survey by a wide variety of stakeholders in the education system. In addition, an advisory committee will look at some of the superintendent's priorities to see how to include poll questions involving them.

With a valid sampling of public opinion, said Brandt, it would be faster to move and take action on concerns. Additionally, these concerns could be made available to legislators, the business community and others.

The poll would be done through a random telephone sampling of 500 to 600 people each time. It would scoop up those whose children attend public schools as well as all others.

"It's cost-effective to get a sense of what the public at large feels," said Glenn Hirata, another evaluation specialist.

He pointed out that about two-thirds of the public do not have children in public schools.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.