What is your solution?
I'm not sure the problem will be completely solved without another cultural revolution. How do you put broken families back together again? How do you make parents raise children as they used to? How do you make the majority of people embrace the same values social conservatives do? How do you make all families and all cultural subgroups value education? How do you force them to be willing to work at obtaining knowledge?
I do know that some of the things people in more liberal areas complain about in their public schools are not problems in more conservative areas, but public schools could use improvement in most areas of the country.
I think the part of the "No child left behind" act which forbids promoting students unless they can pass certain tests is a good start, but I think there are loopholes to that. I know that it doesn't take effect soon enough, and I would be much happier if local school districts had taken the initiative to do this without the Federal government needing to get involved.