An idea the kids will like: PAY THEM to go to school! Each student in public school gets $10 or $20 a week. If they skips school or act up, they get docked. Not only would this provide a good incentive for kids to go to school and behave, it would arguably be less wasteful than the current system. I live in Louisiana, where we spend thousands of dollars per student per year and still rank near the bottom, so I know about waste.
The inevitable objections would be that it's wrong to pay students for something that they should be required to do for free. These objections fail for the same reason that objections to sex education fail: both ignore reality. Sex education opponents argue that without sex ed (and the easy availability of condoms, etc.) teens won't have sex. Anyone who has ever been a teenager knows this is bullshit. As for paying students, sure they're required to go to school, and we don't have to pay them a nickel. But the costs of dealing with truancy and bad behavior are very high; paying the students may be morally questionable, but it would certainly be effective.
