Donate money or materials to a local school or school district. Some schools have a running list of items or materials that they are in great need of. You can also collect soup labels and box tops from certain brands of food and household items. The school can then "cash in" the labels and box tops by sending them to the companies that produced them. If you have a child, you may choose to donate money or items directly to your child's classroom so that he and his classmates can directly benefit from the donation.
Get your company and other local businesses involved at your local schools. Ask the owners or managers of local businesses or organizations that you frequent if they would be willing to donate any money, materials or time to local schools. For example, a local museum may allow an entire elementary school to tour the facility for free while atechnology-based business may donate five new computers and printers for the district to place in libraries and classrooms.
Attend school board meetings regularly for your local school district. Listen to the issues, problems and obstacles the district is facing and the areas where they need the most assistance so you know where you can help out. School board meetings are also the best place to bring up issues of your own. For example, if you feel that the district is not equally allocating its resources, bring up the issue by saying something like: "You said that the high school would be receiving $6,000 while the middle school and elementary school will each only receive $3,000. I suggest the money be split up equally between the three schools."
Hold teachers and instructors accountable. Ask your district for statistics about student outcomes, such as how many students graduated from your local high school or how many students passed a certain class. Contact your local superintendent of schools to discuss any instructors that you deem problematic or that you feel should be held accountable for their poor teaching methods. You can also request that teachers stay one or two hours after school each day to provide additional academic help to struggling students.
Call for charter schools to open up in your area. Write a letter to your local newspaper or approach your district's school board about opening up a charter school in the district. Charter schools commonly operate without many of the constraints and regulations of public schools and feature small class sizes and more project-based learning instead of the busy work commonly assigned in public schools. Charter schools also generally pay instructors based on how well they teach and not simply how long they have been a teacher -- the way many public schools do.
Work with your child on completing his homework. If your attempts to help improve the education system fail you can still make sure your child gets a quality education. Go over your child's homework with him every night to ensure he is spending an adequate amount of time on the work and that he has correctly absorbed the material. Work with him on school projects and, if you choose, have him complete additional assignments just for you.