Throwing money at education by building "state of the art" schools and cramming lots of cool stuff in them won't solve the problem. Nor will throwing more money at the teachers' union.
The problem can only be turned around by doing the hard work of reform, which the unions and a surprising number of parents oppose tooth and nail.
No wonder only 20 high school students are ready to graduate. Maybe the kids are rebelling against a failed set of values that they know is a sham. They are supposed to accept homosexuality, "protected" sex, an atheistic world view, and all the while they are never being told that they have been made in God's image and likeness. Readers might be interested in seeing the video of Bradlee Dean, a rebel who had a hard life but who now leads a ministry to young people in public schools with his rock band, Junkyard Prophet. The
video "My War" is a rockin' story about rebellion and redemption. It's awesome.