This depends a lot on the state & county. Where I used to live in VA & NC, property taxes went to the local district to spend, and the wealthier schools had be

This depends a lot on the state & county. Where I used to live in VA & NC, property taxes went to the local district to spend, and the wealthier schools had better programs & facilities. In CA, where I live now, property taxes are aggregated at the county level and doled out to districts based purely on student population. Superficially, this results in rough parity when it comes to government-funded services (things like lunches, Pre-K, music/PE/libraries/art/etc). However, this all falls apart because of the piece that can't be controlled this way: direct parent contribution. Some bay area schools receive >$1000/kid/year in direct parent support, not to mention volunteerism. These schools will always do better than ones without this, and not just because of the $. The $ & time investment makes the parents even more vested in how schools spend, and the outcomes.