Incentives are broken in these schools.

As you pointed out, capitulation to the bureaucrats and administrators probably easiest. Status quo teaching will churn out good little automatons and nobody will complain. Good teaching will inevitably stir up the shit, because the shit is there to begin with and it is a teachers job to show people that it is. You're not doing something wrong but you'll pay the price for exposing the truth.

If you want to be a teacher that actually makes a different in the lives of your students and get rewarded for your efforts, mainstream school will let you down ten-times out of ten.

Have you considered starting your own school? Moving to a more teacher friendly cou try like UAE? Maybe other states have better systems?