You do know that for the last decade educators nationally have been talking about the "Mississippi Miracle" where they've gone from the bottom performing state at nearly every level to being about a grade-level ahead of the national average, right?

All while still remaining the poorest state in the nation no less.

In large part due to the Literacy-Based Promotion Act, sponsored by state Republicans that got bi-partisan support except for a faction of state house Democrats that tried to kill the bill because they didn't come up with it.

It was so effective that the model was copied successfully by other states.

You could not have chosen a worse example to prove your point.