Depends on where you go of course. I grew up in the middle of nowhere US, very low population density (huge county, less than 50,000 people total), and went to excellent public schools that had astoundingly good teachers that routinely scored high marks in comparison to their best peers in the state. The county and school system didn't have much in terms of money to waste (they did somehow find the money for a computer lab with a few dozen systems circa 1987, enough for each student while a given class was using the lab; probably a state grant). A lot of money wasn't necessary for a great education (which is a mistake the US education system has been making for decades now: just throw more money at it). I wish I had appreciated then how good the teachers were, I just kind of assumed most kids had access to nice public schools (we were poor and we had access to it, why wouldn't everyone).

I'd choose that rural public school experience every time over public schools in all US cities. It was safe (a school shooting was unthinkable), zero gang or weapon problems, the focus was always on education, classes were never too crowded (easy to get individual attention from a teacher as needed), and the teachers were great overall (90% older women with decades of experience). Toward the end of my years in that public school system, drug use did begin to infest rural American schools and you could see that was about to get a lot worse. The US has changed a lot in the past 30 years, I suspect my experience is becoming increasingly rare, but there are likely still a lot of nice rural areas (it's a huge country after all).