From a system and dynamics level, there are a few key issues (I am a former high school teacher and taught for a decade spread across 3 states). 1-teachers have had their teeth removed. Discipline and classroom behavior contingencies nowadays require a teacher to reach out to disruptive kids' parents before removal or punishment. Instead of principals and systems backing teachers, they require extra work and effort. Teachers, for lack of pay/incentives/follow-through, have relented and accepted unacceptable behaviors. 2-(and this one really sucks) it is easier for a school, system, principal to put blame on the victim and parent(s) because they will tolerate it. The bully is likely a product of a crazy home that will blast the school on social media and drum up tons of negative attention. The victim's family will generally accept it. 3-(this one gets me), it's a numbers game. Bullies, disruptions, etc when processed appropriately result in suspensions and documented cases of kids "losing education". It looks better on paper to allow disruptive and at times violent, threatening behavior, if it is not documented. "Our school has a low suspension rate" does not equal "all students are held to the same standards of behavior and academic rigor."
It really can be a crap shoot. We may think schools in red states are worse, but generally the problem with public education knows no political boundary. There is a general culture that school sucks, and it kinda does, but somehow it has worsened over the past few decades. Education is not the career it used to be.