Even worse: the No Child Left Behind Act tested and funded schools based on improvements in student test scores. A school in an impoverished community that man

Even worse: the No Child Left Behind Act tested and funded schools based on improvements in student test scores. A school in an impoverished community that managed to excel, to overcome adversity, may well be penalized for doing so; when you're at 90% of the national test score range, even small improvements become difficult. Basing the funding on score improvements is easy to explain to the taxpayers as maximizing return on investment. And sure, a school that fails to get their kids through the system might be in desperate need for more funding. But you also end up increasing investment into school districts and methods that are not effective. . Source: Personal experience, served two years on the board of a tiny charter school in a rural village, that managed to provide good education on a minimal budget. This was pre- Betsy DeVos charter school "reform".