With all due respect Judy, some of the statistics you cited are a bit flawed. I think we all agree Education is not earning enough attention as say, the Defense Budget. But, we should be weary of statistics provided by the mainstream media as they sometime posess an alterior motive. Albiet the "slowgan" (slogan*) No Child Left Behind doesn't insure that every child graduates, but what it is intended and has done is raise the bar on education standards in the US. Sometimes when this happens a few children will fall off the grid.

http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/nclb/nclbrpt2005.doc

I believe alot of people think the government is responsible for raising our children with the have all to end all miracle legislation. The unfortunate fact remains, it's still up to the parents to enforce good study behaviors and teach their children the value of education, which it seems you have done with your daughter and I applaude you for that.  

My point is that we need to be somewhat skeptical of statistics from the mainstream media when their sole existence is to provide provacative covers and pieces to accomplish one thing and one thing only, sell magazines. The Manhattan Institute and the Dept. of Ed website contains alot of great data on this subject.
Thank you for bringing the education issue back into the forefront, I know I get caught up so much in business I tend to put it in the back of my mind and think that everything is hunky dory. =)

George