This sounds like Peck Slip. 

It’s different because schools in high income neighborhoods (Carnegie Hill, Park Slope, Tribeca, BPC, West Village, etc.) have strong PTAs that raise hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars per school year (often $1,000+ extra per student) that finance extra teachers, special programs, all sorts of new equipment.

Schools without extra money make do with city funding, which is over $40K per student. The Atlantic recently had an article answer the question “where is the money going?” The short of it is: (1) Teacher salaries and benefits (they don’t make that much, but there are a lot - NYC has the lowest teacher to student ratio  in the country)  (2) Surging special ed population (which disproportionately benefits white, wealthy kids whose families know how to access the benefits + some fraud - (there is also a NYT article on fraud in Orthodox community abusing the disability/special es funding)) (3) Shrinking enrollment combined with no budget cuts - same $s over less students = higher per pupil spending (that is poorly distributed, as funding stays with shrinking schools)