The Unspoken Roadblock

Something still isn't making sense, for me, from a Friday article on RIPEC's study of RI education:

RIPEC has released a report entitled Education in Rhode Island 2008 that is chock-a-block with data, and it reinforces RIPEC's standing message that lagging student performance does not reflect the size of the investment.

And yet (emphasis added):

RIPEC has a three-part prescription for the problem: Reconcile the curriculum with exam goals and make sure the exams conform to national standards; ensure accountability by combing through the expenditures of local school districts in a search of efficiencies and enforcing sanctions for failing to meet expectations; and implement a predictable formula for state financing of local schools.

It's true that urban schools are a drag on Rhode Island's test results, so bringing them up would bring up the state, but it's not true that all of Rhode Island's other schools are performing adequately. At bottom there's a six letter (plural) problem that must be addressed in our education system, and RIPEC skirts it.