For Fuck sake's 240, weren't you a school teacher? The solution is a goddamned easy one.
Deviate from the "No dumb child left behind." Let there be a State-mandated(working with local and professional level consultants) course that is challenging and on a comparable level as to what the rest of the world puts on its children. Mathematics, Sciences, Economics, English, Spanish, French, Shop, Health, History and some sort of Interraction class should be part of the curriculum. From this point on, all graduating students should be bilingual and more than ready for any university. If someone is lagging behind, the curriculum continues unabated. If it takes someone to reach 25 years of age to graduate high school, then so be it.
Academic delinquencies tied directly to shame and peer pressure should once again be a part of student life. Sports can also play a major developmental role but not to the detrement of academics. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that money is not the main issue here. Nor can we blame crappy teachers, many of whom are which deemed to be "crappy" because their hands are tied in forcing to teach students how to take tests(like the FCAT here in Florida) rather than teach comprehensive and real world skills.