The Boston Public Schools has 4,500 teachers, not including any other staff. Any organization in the US that employs 4,500 professionals is going to have a budg

The Boston Public Schools has 4,500 teachers, not including any other staff. Any organization in the US that employs 4,500 professionals is going to have a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars at a minimum. The fact that this budget is enormous compared to the state budgets of third-world countries is simply because salaries are higher in the US by orders of magnitude. The reason that schools can spend a lot of money on flashy projects when regular, annual needs are not being met is because it's often much easier to fund flashy new projects. School districts can fund technology purchases through bond measures or through grants, but funders are unlikely to be interested in paying money for everyday non-flashy things like cafeterias. It's entirely possible to get grant money that's specifically earmarked for one particular project and also have longstanding needs that aren't being met.