Government indoctrination daycare centers were designed by Humanists with an actual manifesto that is anti-God and very commie. The main guys, Mann and Greeley, testified before Congress to get funding, which they also got from Rockefeller (see the YT channel The Why Files for a nice breakdown of Rockefeller and public schools), for a system that would replace family and church with government and state, prepare obedient & compliant workers for the factories that would be ready for the "inevitable" consolidation with communism.

It was never about independent thought, logic, entrepreneurialism, competence for anything but debt slavery, definitely not about greatness of any kind, absolutely not about morality nor civic duty. Nothing about being self sufficient, in fact precisely the opposite. All about denigrating rural life and glorifying poison cities, despising older generations and being selfish and unconnected to any sort of legacy.

One cannot rescue a system that is functioning as designed. Return to home school, small schoolhouses controlled locally and operating in complete transparency. It doesn't matter that kids aren't forced into school by the government, it matters that parents are engaged else the kids won't learn anyway. Make trade schools great again, liberal arts are a luxury and can be done on the side. Make a few things mandatory, meaning you cannot vote unless you pass a basic civics test. You cannot hold office unless you have done real work in your community and passed a harder civics test. You cannot manage public budgets without passing economics tests. Etc.