I agree that it would be great if we could get to that, but I've lived near cities that are in aggressive decline for more than 30 years as an adult. Prior to

I agree that it would be great if we could get to that, but I've lived near cities that are in aggressive decline for more than 30 years as an adult. Prior to that, they were in decline for 20 or more years. One nearby city lost an average of 20k people a year for decades. I once talked to a guy who had been a 3 star general in the army. He was a logistics guy. He had gone to a school in that city that had been prestigious back when he was a kid. He wanted to give back and maybe bring back what had been there, so went through Gate's program, and became the superintendant of schools there. He left after a year. Said it was the hardest job he ever did, and didn't think he made one bit of difference. He wasn't hopeful that anything would make any difference. Money was not the problem. Per pupil spending was high. Assistance from the state was high. The elites in control of the politics were the problem. Probably too much money was the problem. If you don't have the ability to make your schools perform basic functions and keep kids safe while they're doing it, then who will live there?