Will have to check more into this to give you some details, but where I am up north, there is a public school district nearby that is failing miserably. There is so much crime there that they put in metal detectors just to enter the schools. In that same small city they started a charter school. The children at the charter school are flourishing and the parents are ecstatic to have an option for their children. Since I know most are from very poor families, I'm not sure how the school is funded. I will have to find out and get back to you on that.

Homeschooling over the years also worked very well for many families up here. The families that i know of were comprised of many well educated parents who would come together and share their knowledge by teaching some of the classes. At one point, they even started a school which produced some outstanding students who went on to higher education much better prepared than some of the students from our very highly ranked public school district.

Unfortunately, we don't often hear much about these successes in the news.