It has been a disaster from the start, but it got worse and worse with time. I remember reading that the schools would give the children iPads and other things just so they would sign up for that school. Basically they would bribe the children to get the parents to send them so that they could make more money. And that's only the top of the iceberg …
(PS: I changed the title from "free school" to "charter school" which is the correct english name for what is described in the article.)
I love history, and I think people should learn about all of it, but if I had to pick I'd dump ancient history for more contemporary history. People need to know in detail the 100 years leading to today far more than the 5000 years before that.
Tbh if you love history or handling historical documents that might even redeem learning cursive writing.
I can read and write modern cursive just fine (well, mostly), but I often have trouble with historic documents. It's not really that helpful in deciphering the handwriting of someone who learned their cursive over a hundred years ago.