Yes, definitely – Because as others have pointed out it’s the single most critical factor in determining individual access to higher education, success in the jobs market, and full particpation in a democratic society. What gets overlooked too often are federal & state laws that establish free primary education as a right, and provide ongoing funding :
US Dept. of Education, Law & Policy Overiew -
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/landing.jhtml?src=ft
So it’s not going away. Ever. Like every other public service it will change and adapt as communities & society change. Don’t expect it to be defunded or privatized into extinction, though.That scenario isn’t politically or economically possible.
But how good US K-12 public schools are in terms delivering the best outcomes for students is a fair question. And the picture isn’t all sunshine and rainbows :
US Students Performance Still Lags -
https://research.com/education/us-students-academic-achievements
And how well do individual states do? Check the latest survey :
Best and Worst State School systems-
https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-with-the-best-schools/5335
What’s most interesting about the last list is how school performance breaks across assumptions about “red state/blue state divide”. There’s no pattern or correlation in terms of politics. Massachusets is on top, but Nebraska is #8, Florida beats California, New York beats Texas, and Ohio leads Hawaii.
The junk arguments used by both the right and left in their bullshit culture war are meaningless, when it comes to measuring the resuts that matter most to real people in real life. Let’s hope we can all learn.