I really appreciate this insight, I think that would really be the ideal solution. I have satisfied myself that it won't be possible- the software we're talking about is one slice of a highly sophisticated network of services operated by the DOE- the largest and most complex school district in the country (and I know of no larger similar educational organization in the world).
I came into this believing that the DOE would address these issues if it could, that the system was simply too complex for anyone to be able to update it effectively. I hope that's true. What is certainly true is that there is an impending crisis in the management of educational data and one way to reduce the impact to our community is to begin cultivating a data management strategy which reduces our dependency and increases the robustness of our digital approach.