I strongly support M97, but I agree that the schools are not succeeding the way we would all hope. One reason is that they have taken on just about all the social problems the country faces. They are expected to teach every kind of student, provide health care, mental health care, security, parenting, judicial processes, drug and alcohol counseling--and somehow teach math and science and reading and writing and keep kids technologically and culturally up-to-date, and prevent bullying and discrimination and solve the problems of young immigrants. There is nothing we don't expect the schools to do. It is impossible. No institution can succeed at this.

Another reason is that education has become an enormous top-down technocratic system run by "experts" who have demonstrably failed. There is no magic technical formula they know. We need much more from parents, households, teachers, communities. We need to return some power to them. 

But defeating M97 and 98 will just make things worse.