Fine. Save ’em. Go ahead. Here’s one thing that would help:
Freedom. Freedom from the edicts of remote educrats, politicians and “edumacators” (who generally know bupkis about actually teaching anything worthwhile).
Freedom to fail or excel exercised at the lowest possible level: first the parents, then the classroom, the school, the district. State and federal standards and requirements for the local school should be relegated to a strictly advisory role, with standardized tests used solely as a metric to allow the users of the schools to evaluate their own schools’ performance.
Schools run according to the demands of the patrons (the parents, the community that pays the bills, etc.) would either suck, excel or fall somewhere in between. The parents of schools that suck would KNOW they suck because, well, that’s what the parents wanted. If they want their kids to continue to be abused with poor education, then they can choose to do so. If they want to better their children’s education, then they’ll have the examples of schools that are better to study and emulate, if they wish.
Oh, and Freedom to Choose. Don’t like the poor quality of schooling afforded by the tastes and desires of the parents at “your” schools? You should be free to take your children to the school of your choice. (And that school should be free to bill the district or school your taxes support.)
Sure, this wouldn’t solve all the problems, but just this one small *heh* thing would place both the responsibility and authority in the hands of those to whom it properly belongs: the parents of the children in the schools (and the surrounding community, which both has needs for useful workers and a right to control how their tax dollars are spent).
I can already hear objections from some, “But what about poor communities? Won’t they need resources (tax dollars) from elsewhere in order to afford decent schools?”
No, they won’t. Parents–often single income parents making below average incomes–have been able to offer superior education at home on a shoe string. I know we did for a while. (Yes, my single income at the time wasn’t very much below the national average for a family of four, but it was below that mark, in an average-expense locale. *shrugs* We made it, despite “gummint” harassment and paying for other folks’ kids education as well. *heh*) There have been absolutely NO (that’s a big zero with the rim kicked off) credible studies linking higher education costs with effectiveness. In fact, I suspect that removing remote edicts, and the additional costs they require with only partial funding from the bureaucrappy that issued the edict, would significantly improve the cost issue for most schools, while allowing dramatically improved instruction.