The current education method in America is working aptly, says Bob Bowdon, but only for some — and those few surely aren’t the students. In his education docudrama “The Cartel,” Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a terrific ugly scene of the institutional degeneracy that has resulted in pretty much incredible wastes of taxpayer money. It’s not operose for Bowdon to illustrate that something’s terribly awry with a state that pays $17,000 per pupil but can only manage a 39% reading proficiency rate — that there’s a crisis is undeniable, how to deal with it is another question altogether.

The two sides of this feud meet head-on in interviews throughout Bowdon’s picture: there are the teachers union and school board members who have managed to allocate 90 cents of every taxpayer buck into everything but teachers’ salaries — although several school administrators make upwards of $100,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools — private schools which can operate outside the influence of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. In those impoverished public schools, Bowdon points out, it’s practically unacceptable to fire a teacher — so even a meager one has a job for life.

“‘The Cartel’ examines lots of distinctive aspects of public education, tenure, backing, support drops, corruption –meaning theft — vouchers and charter schools,” says Bowdon. “The idiom education documentary can sound to some like dull squared, but in fact the film itself betrays an fervid passion for the predicament of particularly inner-city children.”

“The Cartel” first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. The picture has started a lot of talk, which should no doubt continue with the more-recent release of “An Inconvenient Truth” director Davis Guggenheim’s own education expose, “Waiting for Superman.” Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim’s taking the human-interest angle. “My picture is the left-brained variation, more analytical,” Bowdon says, “‘Waiting for Superman’ is more the right-brained treatment.”

The left-brained tactic means arguments that observe the economics — money misspent, opportunities wasted. Though he calls it left-brained, still “The Cartel” reaches some heartbreaking moments of emotion. The weeping face of a youthful girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own strong controversy for the unsatisfactory failure of a state’s education system.

It’s difficult to view a film about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it’s also obvious that this is a national difficulty seen through a tight lens. A spectator anywhere in the country will spot similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon’s frustration and avidness for a solution. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to choose their own schools, to get out from under the state’s control. But he also makes it plain that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight.

The Cartel Movie, a documentary by Bob Bowdon.