sentences:  It is portrayed within the show as a satire of publicly funded schools and education in the United States.As an illustrative example and parody of the lengths undertaken by some schools to attempt to overcome underfunding, some Springfield Elementary School students (specifically Cletus and Brandine Spuckler's children) are purposely excluded from state or federal standardized testing regimens.The impetus being the maintenance of artificial school-wide averages and therefore basic levels of government support—a practice not unheard of in the United States and other systems where funding is tied to test results.