The left like to point out how low the US ranks in education compared to the rest of the world, but they don't like to see comparisons of dollars spent. Why is that? It proves that money isn't the problem, but the system that is failing.
Absolutely; of course what we measure is how much each district spends per kid in a simple ratio of all expenses divided by the number of kids, not what actually gets spent educating each kid.
When I lived in NJ, the State took over the Camden schools because their spending 'per student' was among the highest, and their results were among the poorest (Maybe the actual worst-prize winner, but I don't recall for sure). The displaced Board and administration had milked the entire thing in a typical inner-city Democrat thug fashion to give themselves District-owned SUVs, gas cards, take 'Study trips' to far-flung locations like Hawaii, and countless other perks and bennies, as well as lavish salaries, giving the unions what they wanted to buy off any complaints from them. Any teachers who actually cared about what was going on pretty much had no voice because the administration could get rid of them if they became annoying, and the administration could also count on the union to sell out any dissident teachers who tried to rock the boat.
