If a kid doesn't know how to read before they get to school, they're already way behind. As Gatto says, it takes about 30 hours to teach someone to read. Might as well spend that 30 hours when they're 3, 4, or 5 years old than have the schools waste 3000 hours on it.
I used phonics with my kids and all of them were reading before their fifth birthday!
The problem in govt. schools is that they no longer use phonics.