Colleges do quite well...have done well for hundreds of years. It is the government run schools that are screwed up.Sorry, but that idea is at best, a minor tweak to a system that is fundamentally broken....a Band Aid on broken back as it were.
The business of educating children can be easily reformed by the simple introduction of competition. If we allow American entrepreneurs to bring capital, creativity, and efficiency into education, the results would improve and the costs would decrease dramatically.
If you're worried about poor kids getting an education, make a case for the redistribution of money for the purposes of paying for the education of the children of poor parent(s). However, it is critical that all parents have CHOICE, choice only a free(ish) market can provide. But the idea that government should run schools, from what's in the text books to how many taters tots are served for lunch is ridiculous. Just look at the skyrocketing cost of education and tanking results for all the proof in the world.
At what point in history has a private, free-market education system ever worked?