Well, I agree to a point. But I have problems with that notion, too, since we all know that teachers and principals are not perfect!
I do think there should be some attempt to get basic minimum standards in place on some sort of larger scale. (Though I'm absolutely open to discussion about what "larger scale" constitutes.) The problems as I see with making this work (off the top of my head) are:
1) What standards?
2) Who should meet the standards?
3) How do we determine if the standards are being met?
4) What happens if the standards are not met?
5) Who oversees the process and has authority?
These are just the start, but they're the heart of the matter.
So I guess I'm not clear: are you arguing against all national/state standards, Austin? Should every school be answerable only to itself? Or are you suggesting there is some other body besides elected officials to whom schools should be answerable?