This report describes the findings of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research's 1999 national survey, in its series looking at the impact of educational reform on primary and intermediate schools. In 1989 reforms were enacted that abolished the Department of Education and began elections for boards of trustees who took responsibility for each school as an individual entity. The report covers such areas as funding, staffing, advisory services and professional development, boards of trustees, workload issues, curriculum, parental satisfaction, parental involvement in schools, increasing competition between schools, and key issues for people in schools. A summary of the main gains of the past decade is also given. The main educational issues for people in schools, including parents, remain resource-based. The main source of dissatisfaction for people in schools is workload and paperwork required by decentralization. The reforms were intended to improve the learning outcomes for children from low-income homes, and Maori children. These children are still underperforming others, on average, and the schools that serve them have gained least, often losing students. It is difficult to say if student achievement as a whole has benefited from the shift to school self-management. Parental satisfaction remains high. Another gain from reform is constructive partnerships that have been formed through the boards of trustees and school professionals. Appendixes cover characteristics of survey responses and sources of information and advice. (Contains 50 references.) (DFR)