The company I'm working for now actually does something similar, only for local school systems. It's a suite of software products and handheld devices, designed to improve the way teachers assess students (it encorages a more one-on-one approach), as well as to aid in improving the quality of the data needed for the school to qualify for federal funding.
It's a huge market, precisely because of the state, but the way I look at it: it just happens to be the conditions you have to work with, if you want to do anything at all in the field of education, and even though it may only be a marginal or incremental improvement in the life of any given child, it's an improvement nonetheless.
Also, knowing what we know here -- that this is a multi-generational project -- I think, makes the time and effort spent on "incremental" improvements in the interim feel much more satisfying and productive. In otherwords, knowing for sure that I am not somehow missing out on my one chance to "save the world", means feeling pretty good about about being able to just make improvements around me, where I can.