Is money the determining factor for whether school districts produce students who perform well? Surprisingly, the answer is no.
If money alone were the key, a small town like Steubenville, Ohio, in the Rust Belt, would not be able to outperform Upper Arlington, Ohio, an affluent community, but Steubenville did.
No doubt, adequate funding is important, and we’re naturally inclined to think money makes the difference. After all, practically everything we do is based on what we can spend. But money alone does not determine how school districts perform.
Let’s look at three Ohio school districts. Based on the latest figures available, Steubenville, with a population of 18,00 and a median income of $24,900, spends $9688 per student. Upper Arlington has a population of 36,000 and median income of $75,600 and spends $16,311 per student. Columbus, with a population is 933,000 and a median income $39,100, spends $16,194 per student.
Which district scored highest in the Department of Education audit published in 2021? Based on the performance index—the number of students who scored proficient or higher on state tests and how well they performed on them—Steubenville had the best showing with a score of 103.91. Upper Arlington scored 101.41, and Columbus’ score was 63.10.
Notably, Upper Arlington and Columbus spend roughly 68% more per student than Steubenville, but Upper Arlington still lagged slightly behind Steubenville, and Columbus was nowhere close.
What makes the difference? Tracy Nájera, Ph.D., a recent guest on my podcast, JUSTUS with Jack & Gonzo, whose life work is education policy, tells us that basic human factors come into play, such as whether a child’s basic needs are being met. Meeting those needs is essential for a child to thrive in the classroom.
Some 20 percent of children do not have what most of us take for granted, like electricity, running water or heat. Some may not eat regularly and aren’t clothed properly. Others are in families that move frequently.
And then there’s the matter of social capital, those community connections a student and his family have. The reason Steubenville can spend less money on education than Upper Arlington and still achieve high performance scores is likely because of its social capital. When you have it—those close connections that exist when adults take an interest in the life of students and teachers—students perform well, Nájera says.
If you live in Upper Arlington, as I do, you can get a sense for how strongly its residents support education; it’s not surprising the school district is well funded.
Howard Fleeter, Ph.D., also a guest on the podcast with Nájera, who works to improve education systems, was involved in a project concerning funding for economically disadvantaged students that included visiting a rural school district. To ensure a close teacher-student connection, the district required every new teacher to ride a school bus before the school year began and see the community.
The goal was to provide teachers with a sense for who their students were before meeting them in the classroom. As Fleeter sees it, you can’t possibly teach students if you don’t understand the circumstances that are part of their lives.
I can’t speak to why Columbus scored low on the audit. Many other school districts also spend significant sums per student and also fared poorly in the audit.
What works in Steubenville, with 2769 students, or Upper Arlington with 6500 students, may not be workable in large districts like Columbus with 45,338 students. Still, Steubenville and Upper Arlington tell us in different ways that money alone isn’t the key to success.
Funding education—notwithstanding all the debate in our statehouse—is a relatively easy task. Dealing with the intangibles that experts like Nájera and Fleeter describe is hard work. Acknowledging the enormity of the problem is required, followed by much examination, analysis and leadership.
If this work is being done statewide, I’m not seeing it in the news.
[This post was originally publised by The Columbus Dispatch on September 21, 2025, though under a different title.]
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Jack D’Auora writes for Considerthisbyjd.com
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A strong social capital is the least expensive and most effective way to improve attendance and increase school safety. The fewer days of school a child misses and how safe they feel at school will improve student outcomes.
Jack,
As always, a great article! Dean Martin must be proud.
Steven Spring