Two things are big drivers behind the disappearance of any kind of hands-on learning experiences.
(1) School district budgets are often squeezed and when they are the "expensive" programs are dropped. Expensive meaning anything that requires more infrastructure than desks and chalkboards. Once a program is dropped it is much harder to reinstate in the fat times. The exception is usually athletics, but that is a politically driven decision.
(2) The other issue is fear of lawsuits. Rocket building would give the worried district superintendent a coronary. There are so many hazards when kids are allowed to use real tools and instruments. It only takes one or two scared members of a decision making body to scare the rest of the group with visions of evil lawyers and an image of a kid with a screwdriver in his eye, plus see (1).
Of course there are the other thousand tiny (and large) cuts that keep anything fun out of the curriculum.
My local school board is a long way past this. I think it's mostly that they just don't value education, much less knowledge. They are closing schools and firing teachers.
I wish I had more solutions. I'd like to hear more solutions.