Let's look at this from a cost benefit perspective.
California spends about $10k/student/year. They are ranked 47th on the science test.
Utah spends about $6k/student/year. They are ranked 4th on the science test.
It seems obvious to me 'more money' does not mean 'better educations'.
I am a retired public school teacher and I have to agree with your characterization of public schools as "gigantic and expensive fail-whales"

I understand how they work. I dislike them because I find them to be unreliable.

When I saw "The New York Times examines" I knew we had a very reputable source.

Bullwinkle, was that you?

Why does Ebay need my phone number? It never stops, does it?

Where is the "LIKE" button?

The whole point of high tech is to make something look easy that is hard for most people to understand . Else why do it? That almost always brings with it a high price unless you're MacGyver. I think the OP is barking mad if s/he thinks it can be done on the cheap.

From TFA:
"With the evaporative cooling method employed in the data centre, cold water is brought into the facility, where it’s used to cool the hot air from the servers. Some of it evaporates into the air via cooling towers, while the rest remains as a liquid."
There, I've spoiled the fun. Sue me.

I used to have both a cell phone and a land line. Then I realized that my land line failed about once a month. I had to call the company via my cell phone and then wait for a repair, usually requiring over 24 hours. The local copper network is ancient and prone to failure at the drop of a hat. I finally ported my land line number to my cell. The company jerked me around with excuse after excuse for the maximum time allowed by law here (30 days) before releasing the number. Now I have excellent service for a fairly high price. You pay for what you get.

The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain people captured far from any battlefield. - Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director.