State regulations (though of course it depends on the state) do have a lot to do with why public schools are failing, but chronic underfunding (or misuse of funding, more like) of key areas, the lack of good teachers in critical areas of the country, the retention rate of the good teachers that we do have, administrative bureaucracy, and a whole host of other areas eat into our public school system. To point at any one of these as "the reason" ignores the weightiness of the other horrifying incompetencies.