Impossible. First, and the 800 pound gorilla, is that education funding is LOCAL, let alone uneven across states. This cements huge de-facto unequal opportunity

Impossible. First, and the 800 pound gorilla, is that education funding is LOCAL, let alone uneven across states. This cements huge de-facto unequal opportunity. And who decides the merit function? It could, and already does in some states, include adherence to political and religious doctrine. Merit as in "You're fired." Education will improve when there is uniform funding for all students, and a reasonable measure of success, not just standardized tests, where in Mandarin fashion, the "best" students are the ones who are good at passing tests. I had a tech work for me who excelled in "certs" but screwed up every assignment, horribly. The same applies to teachers, who work for the merit function, and there can easily be unintended consequences. Techies (and I am one) are mostly isolated from the real world, are obsessed with merit functions, and have little or no empathy for others who aren't as gifted. And I offer praise for the ones here who do. Every kid is different, and that's aside from the "AI teaching revolution", which I vaguely remember from the 1980's. Like it or not, schools will be rating the Chatbot teacher in partnership with a human teacher. Complexity confounds formulaic solutions.