Studies challenge assumption that schools with low-income students are short-changed in funding

Jay Mathews

The writer and educator Jonathan Kozol exposed what he called “savage inequalities” in U.S. education in the 1980s. Urban schools were overcrowded and understaffed, he said, lacking the financial resources of suburban campuses.

His vivid disclosures still resonate in school debates. Many still assume that less is spent on learning for low-income children than for affluent ones.