Exactly. It's a massive con game - possible only because the misinformed public keeps voting for their own romantic mental images of "how school used to be".
It's my contention they could close the entire California K-12 public school system down and end up with the exact same number of college-ready 18-year-olds every year. The smart kids, and the average kids with involved parents, will succeed no matter what kind of educational architecture is or isn't in place. The dumb kids won't succeed no matter how much you spend, and the public schools just provide the same function for them as prison for dumb adults - a great place to share and learn new crime techniques. ;)
Actually, I think the quality of the incoming students would improve. Not needing to pay the taxes to support the system, far more parents could stay home and teach their kids, fixing their own miserable educations simultaneously.
An informed electorate would be the real "twofer" in that deal.