Have you heard This American Life episode 550: Three Miles?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. The two schools in the show are both in the South Bronx, hardly a Republicn stronghold.

To simplistically blame Republicans for the poor schools in this country (and despite the popular myth, not all public schools are awful) completely misses the point that this country has long had a history of not being willing to pay for education. It's more noticeable in places like the South, which were much slower to establish free public education, but it's an undercurrent almost everywhere.

Over and over again you'll hear people, who ought to know better, say things like, "When I was in school we didn't have all these computers and I got a good education!" Which totally misses the point about changing technology.

What would bear researching is which school districts vote for higher taxes for the schools, compared to the ones which typically don't. There will probably be not so much a party affiliation connection as an SES connection.