Even simpler, but less likely to be popular. Pay teachers competitive (six figure) salaries, put a cap on student:teacher ratio (20:1, or even less?), and get rid of tenure.
Boston $60k https://btu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Salary-Grids.pdf
Seattle $65k https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Ce...
LA $55k https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/doma...
SF $60k https://uesf.org/members/2017-2020-contract/
NYC $60k https://cdn-blob-prd.azureedge.net/prd-pws/docs/default-sour...
Looks like you can add $10-20k with a masters and a few grand per year of tenure.
Key word in my comment was “competitive”, which these aren’t for trained/skilled workers with other options.
Don't get me started though! College is even dumber. 36 weeks of class per year for 18 year-olds? Wtf. Kids graduate high school and ought to be in class or an apprenticeship the next Monday. Most young adults go to non-selective universities to get simple credentials like nursing or education. It's not about fancy internships at Google or other nonsense like gap years. That's relatively decadent stuff most young adults can't indulge in.
Education: Every school has dozens of well-educated and committed teachers; together they can focus on improving quality and streamlining away the BS.
Private school teachers earn less than public school teachers, but private school students get much better educational outcomes.
Good ones may pay more.
Teaching in private schools also tends to be an easier job, mainly thanks to selection bias giving you an easier set of students to teach, and (oddly enough) school admin being both willing and able to tell parents to fuck off and go away if they or their children are being jackasses and won't shape up. Public schools can't do that. Turns out decent-or-better private schools would rather lose one paying student than let them make things worse for the rest, risking several paying students (and the good ones all have waiting lists anyway—they'll fill the slot, no problem).