And about 85% are mediocre. The religious schools, on average, in our area (a well-off middle class suburb in New Jersey) have students who consistently do far better on standardized tests, are not allowed to shout out profanity in the hallways, are scrutinized carefully for drug use, have teachers who make 1/2 the pay of that at public schools, but are much happier, inculcate strong values, do not promulgate homosexual prosyletization or far-out sex education, strongly involve the parents in the schools, have motivated, knowledgeable teachers (who can be fired if necessary), allow for a non-PC reading of American and world history, and subsist on about 1/3 the number of dollars per student as for the public schools. It's not hard to see why so many even upper middle class parents in our area are moving out of the public schools and into the religious ones.
Vouchers for the poor aren't a perfect solution, it should be vouchers for anyone. Now that the constitutionality of the issue has been put to bed, I'm sure that there is only a few lawsuits and several hundred million dollars in NEA money standing in the way.
I believe it is in the best interests of this country for the polulation to be educated, and I have no problem with the public funding of education. So long as it is done in a way that provides the buyer with the most choice, and therefore the most value for the dollar.