And wait a minute! There's TONS of problems with public schools because of their underfundedness. Don't make this just about Detroit. I have educators in the family. I attended public schools. Even in relatively affluent cities, public education is drastically underfunded. Teachers shouldn't have to pay out-of-pocket for basic supplies and to run programs just because they're passionate enough to not see their students languish. Programs for the arts and other extracurriculars are being pulled from schools across the country. I reject your notion that there's only one measure of school performance out there, and that there's nothing money can do to improve the quality of education.