http://www.dailyorange.com/2014/04/educator-outlines-flaws-issues-with-american-education-system/ Most of what I have previously read has suggested that more rigidity, more standardization and above all more centralization of the school system (mostly by standardized tests) is the best way to help our education system. This article, while it does not argue against centralization of education standards it does argue that they are useless unless the underlying social and economic problems that create educational inequality are solved. Many of the states and districts with the worst school systems are the poorest in the nation. Without money the schools cannot improve. The article correspondingly attacks the No Child Left Behind Act despite its attempt to "leave no child behind" and force the worse performing schools to meet higher standards because it took money away from poor-performing schools, the ones that need it the most. The articles author also attacks the use of student performance to determine teacher pay, arguing that even good teachers will perform poorly in poor districts and will then choose to work in wealthier ones. All of these issues raise question of whether education is an problem than can be targeted and fixed independently of more wide spread social problems. Can someone get an education, even at an excellent school if their family is struggling to survive financially? I think the answer is no and the two problems are intertwined. However, I think a good starting place would be for educational funding to still be paid for by property taxes but to be pooled nationally and distributed to districts on a per-pupil basis.