JWR has it wrong - neither the states nor the feds educate kids well. Public schools were bad before the feds got involved, and then they only got worse after that.
Get government out of education, period.
Basically, what NCLB is doing right now is causing duly elected school boards to be set aside. People are OK with this if it's in urban areas ("inner cities.") I doubt many will be so happy when it comes to their own small town / suburban schools (the ones they paid a premium home price for, so to get into the district.)
But unless NCLB is amended, schools who are labelled "failing" for a certain # of years (think it's three, not sure) will be in line for state takeover. That to me is wrong, to use the power of the federal gov't to set aside a duly-elected board.