" reduce or eliminate ...choice for parents..." Really? You can't choose to send your kids to private school or home-school them?  Huh? Well I'll be danged! When did that happen? Are you sure it's the k-12 public school system that's entirely at fault? I went to k-12 public school, then went on to public universities, and there discovered that all my friends and colleagues in undergrad and grad school also went to public k-12 schools. You know who I didn't see at university? All the k-12 goof-offs and screw-up kids whose parents apparently didn't have enough regard for the benefits of education to get involved. Care to take one huge basic step in improving public education? If a kid shows up for kindergarten and can't read a Dick and Jane book, send them home until they can.