An example is neighboring districts in rich areas of the country. Example: great neck vs mount sinai.
How can these two be so different in terms of budget etc to achieve such different results?
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The US federal government has very little say in how school districts are run. They do have leverage when it comes to funding and some standards, but the vast majority of the power is with the states when it comes to education.
States largely leave the operations of schools to local governments. In turn the school district’s operations are largely run by a locally elected school board. Depending on the state, different school boards have a certain degree of autonomy when it comes to curriculum and how they teach.
You’re going to get natural differences just based on who is running a given school district. Even more so if a given state gives the districts more autonomy. In most districts they get most of their funding from local property taxes with some additional support from the state or the federal government. This is why local elections matter. Local politics have a huge direct impact on performance of schools. Unfortunately, people largely ignore local politics.
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