As someone working in EdTech, I think the idea of schools being underfunded is very complicated.
School Districts horribly mismanage their budgets. One of the largest school districts in the country and one of my clients just didn't know how much money they had spent for two years. So, their solution was to not renew any contracts the following year. Didn't matter how important they were, you were only safe if you had a multi-year contract (which thankfully I did). The people who are making spending choices in districts are often clueless about how to spend money or think about ROI.
Some schools are likely underfunded. But they also just need financial literacy training.
I work in EdTech as well and I tend to agree, but there is also a very strong correlation between funding and rank of schools. 8 of the top 10 schools in terms of educational outcomes also are in the top 10 for spending.
Due to paying for education with property taxes, this of course carries on into the county level where many schools are incredibly over funded and have good education, where as others have poor funding and terrible education.
I do agree overall though, when you look at the numbers at a macro scale. Here in Florida, average class has around 20 kids, we pay around $10k per kid per year. How does that not fund the school, how do teachers make so little? Average pay is around $50k, you could put two teachers in each room and still have $100k left over for all the expenses of running the school.
I believe its a bit of you get what you pay for, the states paying more get better talent who use the money more effectively. The main factor that money can't fix are the parents. We have a Drop out Recovery program and well, the common factor is the parents and income.
School Districts horribly mismanage their budgets. One of the largest school districts in the country and one of my clients just didn't know how much money they had spent for two years. So, their solution was to not renew any contracts the following year. Didn't matter how important they were, you were only safe if you had a multi-year contract (which thankfully I did). The people who are making spending choices in districts are often clueless about how to spend money or think about ROI.
Some schools are likely underfunded. But they also just need financial literacy training.