High spending doesn’t guarantee better schools

State-by-state NAEP data show some low‑spending states (e.g., Mississippi, Louisiana) ranking at or near the top after demographic adjustment, while very high‑spending systems like New York are only modestly above average. That suggests the policy problem is not only 'raise more money' but 'get better value from existing spending' and consider local tax‑politics constraints on funding increases. — Shifts the debate from ‘more money’ to ‘how money is used’ and whether progressive tax proposals that assume mobile elites can be applied at state and local scales.