Elinda wrote:
Public schools are financially supported by their town or perhaps county. The quality will vary considerably even within a state. Maine has some of the best public schools and some of the worst.
That's very true as well. Most of Cape Cod was upper-middle class, in property value if not income. That was actually part of the issue; as said, we were the third-lowest in per student funding out of the entire state, and that was based on property value. But most of the people who owned property on the Cape got it years ago when the housing market was in a slump; its value just skyrocketed. Consequently most of my classmates were not "rich." It just so happened that a house worth $150,000 in 1990 was worth $500,000 by 2000 (and only $300,000 by 2006, incidentally).
It became a big problem also because people who bought property AFTER the slump were primarily old and rich; but they refused to pay for things not directly benefiting them, instead using the town council to constantly lower funding for schools and public works (they would also complain about the lack of snowplows every winter, which was ironic). Thus, programs were cut from the school, sports teams shut down, etc. When I was in elementary school, the high school had a marching band that won the state competition. By the time I got to high school it had been entirely disbanded (heh, pun). When my sister, two years younger than me, graduated, they were debating cutting AP classes, shortening the week to 4 days, or charging $100 fees to join teams or AP classes (above the fee to take the test... $65, I think?). Combined with the extra cost of implementing Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, our school suffered badly.
Still, it managed to do pretty well overall, at least while I was there. No idea what it's like 6 years after I graduated.