What the government really spends per student compared to private schools.

Paper here.

YouTube here.

Real spending per pupil ranges from a low of nearly $12,000 in the Phoenix area schools to a high of nearly $27,000 in the New York metro area. The gap between real and reported per-pupil spending ranges from a low of 23 percent in the Chicago area to a high of 90 percent in the Los Angeles metro region.

To put public school spending in perspective, we compare it to estimated total expenditures in local private schools. We find that, in the areas studied, public schools are spending 93 percent more than the estimated median private school.

By actual adjusted numbers, the public education system spends far more now per student than it did a few decades ago, and with far worse results. Yet "public education" always shows up on the laundry list liberals give me of "great progressive achievements."

One criteria for an "achievement" is that it should be something that works without going broke.