I succeeded in getting a good education for my own kids, by setting up a few innovative schools. That worked only because they attracted the best teachers. For my son, this was a minor benefit. Violence from black and Latino boy gangs still made school unpleasant. The reforms only lasted a few years before the whole system swamped them.
Good K-12 education, from my experience, requires three things: a genuinely safe physical environment, segregating students into top, middle and bottom and having appropriate teachers for each and lastly, leaving the top students plenty of time to do their own self motivated study.Curriculum is irrelevant. Math has to be good, taught by good teachers, who aren't often available. Internet classes work in math, for the best students.
Nobody in public schools knows how to assure the first (safety). Private schools can kick out the rowdies.
The second (teachers matching student skills) is only possible in dense urban areas. Really bright and skilled teachers who can challenge top students are rare and almost non-existent in less dense areas.
Above 12th grade, education is simple. Only classroom discussion works, in small classes (8-14 students), with intelligent, neutral facilitators. The business model for that is hard to create.
Sorry to be so negative about education. That is my experience.