I wonder if it's not that districts are mismanaging their resources but that when you try to provide education to students who live in poor communities you must

I wonder if it's not that districts are mismanaging their resources but that when you try to provide education to students who live in poor communities you must confront all the pervasive effects of that poverty. And the cost of doing so approaches the cost of any functional social safety net. From that standpoint, of course it's much more expensive per pupil to provide a quality education to impoverished students. It may cost 2X or 3X as much to give these kids the same education their privileged counterparts are getting.