It looks like the US is right near the top in terms of spending. A more meaningful question might be, how is the money spent within the category of education?

It looks like the US is right near the top in terms of spending. A more meaningful question might be, how is the money spent within the category of education? A lot of countries are paying higher teacher salaries, so that could be something. I'd argue that regardless, the US _should_ spend a lot on education. My intuition is that the problem might have more to do with how stretched parents are financially, and how their participation (or lack thereof) can affect a child's education.