Here's the main premise: "Even the most thoughtful and well-intentioned school-reform program can’t improve educational outcomes if it ignores the single greatest driver of student achievement: household income."

I generally agree with this. High-quality education starts not with teachers, but with parents. And parents can't do their part if they don't have stable income and enough free time to... actually raise their kids. This then gets compounded by wealthier families being able to afford the more expensive housing that comes with better school districts (or opt out of public school entirely and pay for private school). Then it compounds further with wealthier families being able to afford tuition instead of saddling their kids with mountains of debt. It ends up being something of a vicious cycle.