> Do you have evidence of this claim? How do you know? Please show sources. Of course! There are really two claims in my argument that I need to defend: 1. Pa

> Do you have evidence of this claim? How do you know? Please show sources. Of course! There are really two claims in my argument that I need to defend: 1. Pay is effecting the number of highly skilled people who enter the field. (Also that standardized testing is effecting the number of high skilled people who enter the field, but that was a bit of a tangential point I think?) 2. high skilled teachers provide better educational outcomes. I THINK you're asking for evidence of the non-parenthetical portion of 1, so that's what I've provided. If I mis-interpreted your request for evidence, definitely let me know. I have cited good introductory essays for each of these three claims I've made. So, here's evidence for the claim that pay is effected teacher quality. This article from WaPo is a pretty balanced perspective (despite the clickbait title), citing some major names on both sides of the debate. It doesn't contain any of the data or analysis -- just competent summaries -- but it does link to the actual research if you're interested: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/16/think-teachers-arent-paid-enough-its-worse-than-you-think/?utm_term=.6167a899c4e7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/... From there you can follow bibliographies and get a pretty decent picture of the landscape. One key take-away that resonates with my experience, both interacting with STEM teachers and tutoring college kids: "Generally speaking, the small fraction of the most cognitively skilled college students who elect to become teachers has declined for decades (Corcoran, Evans, and Schwab 2004)". Other research does the work of tying those choices to various things, most notably pay. > You don't believe poorer kids have worse outcomes in life? Of course I do. What I don't believe is that local school districts are anywhere remotely close to taxing people into poverty. Your claim was NOT that "poor students perform worse", which is what all your evidence backs. Your claim was that education budgets are such an enormous drain on household incomes that they make an appreciable difference in quality of life. I think that's probably bullshit.