And politically, now at least, I agree it is a non-starter. Before I die, I expect to see opposition to "the twelve-year sentence" reach critical mass, if for no other reason than neither the states nor the nation can afford it any more.
If the political implications of government schools are bad, the economic harm done to the country is far, far worse, from ever-rising taxes to the way the funds are unwisely spent and squandered. You might as well flush much of that money down the toilet for all the benefit most kids and their parents get from it.
As for a candidate with the guts to say the Emperor has no clothes, so to speak, there have been a few at the state and local level (who, once known, are immediately targeted by the NEA and their offspring organizations for censure and electoral defeat) and just one that I know of nationally.
Can you guess who? (Right column, second page)
Of course, education is not a federal issue and should not be made so except for the purpose of undoing the laws and regulations that locals have to comply with in order to get funding from Uncle Sugar.
As with many other areas of life, the fedgov needs to simply butt out. That must happen before any radical reforms can be achieved at the state level.
Few here on Free Republic understand the political and spiritual consequences of government socialist schooling. They fail to understand that government schools trash every First Amendment human right, treat children like prisoners, are socialist and godless. That has **consequences** for our nation!
Children who attend prison-like, socialist, and godless schools risk becoming comfortable to accepting being treated like a state prisoner, thinking godlessly, and socialism.
As for the economic burden, **more** is spent on K-12 education ( not including college) than is spent on our military. Government compulsory and socialist entitlement schooling is crushing our economy.