Another example of education failure

Here in my neighboring county there are 7-8 middle schools and according to the standards commonly used all are in the category of "failing" or "needs improvement" or some such. At any rate, they are so deficient that parents with a letter telling them they can move their children to any other school in the district don't really have a choice better than the one they are already in. Well, now we have good news. One of the schools has permission to convert to a charter school and the administrators say this will be fantastic in terms of performance. Kids will start school earlier, go at least one hour longer each day, wear uniforms, be subject to greater discipline, and everyone will be amazed at the improvement. Sounds good to me, but this all begs some obvious questions. Why did it take 2 years to get permission to make this change and why aren't all schools doing this? The answers would probably make you cry.