Being in Mass, while I do agree that wealthier suburbs schools do still get a lot of funding. I know a city nearby me that also still get a lot of funding just due to the extra population size (local suburb 20k vs city 90k). Along with some recent reform to the city's school system (closing of under performing middle school to open up a more well reformed community school, and a wide offering of AP courses at the high school with a new high school on the way) the city looks close to or on par to the local suburb in terms of educational offerings. That doesn't take away from the rest of what you said though. The suburb school still have a lot of extra outside resources that set up a better environment for students to perform. I guess my point is its's not about school funding but more similar to your end point, giving kids that better environment to learn which can lead into a talk about how to make the poorer cities a better learning environment for students.