When Kelly and I began telling people about our "reverse sprawl plan" in order to start Echo, the one question I was immediately asked by many people was, "well, where will your kids go to school?" And when I'd reply Cincinnati Public Schools, people looked at me as if I was planning on committing child abuse. In Cincinnati, the city's public school system is an object of scorn for suburbanites that associate CPS with a prison system. While there's definite room for improvement, the reality is: some schools are doing a great job.
Among them is the high school up the street [of which Larry Budde is a grad], that's one of America's best schools. And I refer you to Jon Weatherly's blog as he explains how CPS has done well for his family.
I'm just saying that there's no way our city schools can improve if we take all the kids with values and move 'em to the 'burbs and private schools. Starting new churches in our city is important, but until Christians are integrating into established systems nothing will change.