As you point out saying the system is broken is just a cop out and feeds into the nihilistic sense of hopelessness surrounding us. If there's a problem, we can fix it. That's what we should be saying.
I think the comment about property taxes stems from the huge problem in the USA that districting and schools are linked, as you well know, so that kids in richer neighborhoods have better schools by and large. I live in the Czech Republic and we can put our kid in any school we want in Prague if there's a free place. It's true that people are encouraged to place their kids in schools near where they live, but it's not strictly enforced. The problem in the USA is not education or teachers, but the social forces at work in the community that entraps children in particular socio-economic brackets. We drem about the American Dream, and yet all the while the elite classes make it ever more difficult for anyone to rise above their standard and working class families are treated like crap. And then there's the opioid crisis .. OMG .. I don;t know much about it because I dont live there but it looks pretty harrowing. And our government can't even get it together to put an end to it.
Thanks for reading and posting! I agree that districting is an issue, but what a lot of people are not aware of is that some states have legislation in place that diverts additional funds to lower income districts. This is not exactly a solution, and it often is a negative talking point for wealthy people who don't understand why it is more expensive to run schools in poorer areas (mainly because those districts have higher rates of kids with disabilities, etc), but it is an example of how government can work to create more balance.
School choice is a hot topic here. In some cases it works really well, in others it just leads to engaged parents moving their kids to better schools, leaving the lesser school with an even higher critical mass of kids with disengaged parents. The most at-risk kids end up totally screwed in that scenario. But I think your point underscores that we need a multi-faceted approach. No one policy will improve the overall system. For crying out loud, we sent people to the moon! (That's always my fall-back :). We certainly could create an amazing school system if it were a priority.