I studied effective principals. They have to be free to decide whom to hire, what to teach, and how to spend their money. For many of them this means that they have to break a lot of rules to get the job done.
People talk of parental involvement.
I speak of extending the mission of the school into the home. The easiest way to achieve this more valuable level of parental commitment to the education of their children is through a signed contract. Federal oversight, while complicating, is not the chief obstacle to high academic achievement among low-income children. State and local regulations are far more problematic in the lives of K-12 school principals trying to deliver first rate education to their students. Typically, effective contracts get the parents, teachers, and students alike all to agree to do everything in their power to help all the children in the school succeed.