Two weeks ago I took a look at America’s worst states for education and then, fair being fair, America’s best. This week, the same two lists set to music, in the spirit of the Saturday-morning cartoons some of us learned our conjunctions from. Two trains leave the same yard. One pays the fare. One says it’s hard. (It’s not that hard.)
Fundin’ Junction
The receipts
Every number in the video comes from the two ranking posts and the data behind them. Here they are side by side.
The Express vs. the Won’t-Leave Local
| State | Effort (% of GSP, rank) | Typical student vs. adequate | Opportunity gap (pts) | KIDS COUNT 2026 rank | NAEP 2024 rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pays the fare: the best five | |||||
| Massachusetts | 2.79% (#35) | +54% (#6) | −104 | 2 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 4.90% (#1) | +69% (#3) | −109 | 6 | 2 |
| New Hampshire | 3.26% (#23) | +107% (#1) | −63 | 1 | 3 |
| Wyoming | 3.48% (#14) | +80% (#2) | −6 | 12 | 4 |
| Connecticut | 3.91% (#3) | +57% (#4) | −148 | 7 | 8 |
| Says it’s hard: the worst five | |||||
| Nevada | 2.10% (#47) | Below adequate; at least half of students chronically underfunded | — | 46 | n/a |
| Texas | 2.59% (#40) | Below adequate; at least half chronically underfunded | — | 44 (tie) | 36 (Core) |
| North Carolina | 2.05% (#49, last) | Below adequate; at least half chronically underfunded | — | 32 | n/a |
| Florida | 2.19% (#46) | Below adequate; at least half chronically underfunded | −8 | 35 | 27 (Core) |
| Arizona | 2.10% (#48) | Below adequate | — | 40 | n/a |
Verse 1: The Express
- Massachusetts ranks 1st on 2024 NAEP, with the highest average in the country on all four tests.
- New Jersey puts 4.90 percent of its economy into K-12, the highest effort in the nation.
- New Hampshire’s typical student is in a district spending about 107 percent above what it costs to reach national-average outcomes. That’s more than double.
- Wyoming’s highest-poverty districts are funded about 83 percent above adequate, roughly as far above as its most affluent ones. Its opportunity gap is −6, the smallest in the country.
- Connecticut’s whitest fifth of districts are funded at about 201 percent of adequate; its most Black and Hispanic fifth, about 73 percent. Bridgeport and New Britain have been on my most financially disadvantaged lists for more than a decade. Connecticut ranks 46th of 47 states on equal opportunity.
Verse 2: The Won’t-Leave Local
- North Carolina: 2.05 percent of GSP, the lowest effort in the nation, in a large and growing economy.
- Arizona would have to raise K-12 revenue by about 150 percent to match New Jersey’s effort. Had it held its 2006 effort, its schools would have had about 35 percent more revenue over 2016-23.
- Florida’s opportunity gap is just −8, not because it’s fair but because nearly everyone is underfunded. Districts average about 70 percent of adequate, the highest-poverty fifth about 63 percent, and 98 percent of students attend underfunded districts.
- Nevada has a casino-and-tourism economy and no personal income tax, puts 2.10 percent of GSP into schools (47th), and ranks 46th on KIDS COUNT.
- Texas ranks 40th on effort and 44th on KIDS COUNT, but 36th on NAEP Core. Texas kids are outperforming what Texas is willing to pay for.
The bridge: can’t vs. won’t
| Group | State | Effort (% of GSP, rank) |
|---|---|---|
| Can’t (high effort, low capacity) | New Mexico | 3.54% (#12) |
| Can’t (high effort, low capacity) | Mississippi | 3.30% (#20) |
| U.S. average | 3.13% | |
| Won’t (low effort, by choice) | Texas, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina | 2.05% to 2.59% |
New Mexico and Mississippi hold the bottom two spots on KIDS COUNT, and Mississippi has 99 percent of its students in below-adequate districts. But they tax themselves at or above the national average. Small economies and high child poverty mean even strong effort can’t close the gap alone. That’s an argument for federal foundation aid that goes first to high-effort, low-capacity states, and requires the won’t states to raise their own effort to a national floor before they draw a dollar of it. More on that in my letter to the new Congress.
Verse 3: Even the Express has a caboose
- Opportunity gaps in the best five: Connecticut −148, New Jersey −109, Massachusetts −104, New Hampshire −63, Wyoming −6. The median state is −38.
- Best isn’t the same as fair. In every one of these states but Wyoming, the gap is driven at least as much by how lavishly affluent districts spend as by shortfalls in poor ones. The job is to raise the floor, not level down.
- Wyoming shows it can be done: adequate and equal, through a cost-based funding model built after the Campbell County decisions.
The lyrics
Fundin’ Junction (full lyrics)
Chorus
Fundin’ Junction, where’s the money flowin’?
Fill up the boiler, keep the school train goin’!
Two tracks leavin’ the same old yard,
one pays the fare, and one says it’s hard.
(It’s not that hard!)
Verse 1
Massachusetts rides up front, number one on NAEP,
New Jersey shovels the most coal, four-point-nine of GSP!
New Hampshire’s runnin’ double what it costs to get it done,
Wyoming splits it evenly, the poor kids and the rich ones.
Connecticut’s got a shiny car, but take a look out back:
Bridgeport’s ridin’ a different train, on a much more broken track.
Verse 2
Down the other line there’s Nevada, Texas, Carolina North,
Florida and Arizona: they could, but won’t, put forth.
Carolina’s two-oh-five, the lowest in the land,
Arizona’d need one-fifty more to match New Jersey’s hand.
Florida’s “equal,” sure it is, ’cause everybody’s short,
Nevada’s got the casino cash but leaves the kids at port.
Texas kids beat what Texas pays. Imagine if it tried!
It’s not that they can’t buy the ticket. They just won’t ride.
Bridge
Now Mississippi, New Mexico, they’re stokin’ all they’ve got,
they tax themselves like they mean it, but their engine’s not a lot.
That’s a can’t, not a won’t, so give ’em a hand!
But the won’t states pay their share first. That’s the federal plan!
Verse 3
And even on the fast train, the poorest kids sit in the back.
Best ain’t the same as fair, not on anybody’s track.
But Wyoming shows it can be done: minus six, the smallest gap!
So raise the floor and stoke the fire, and put ’em all on the map!
Final chorus
Fundin’ Junction, where’s the money flowin’?
Fill up the boiler, keep the school train goin’!
Raise the bottom, don’t average it away,
every kid gets a ticket, every state’s gotta pay!
Lyrics by me. Music made with Suno. The guy in the top hat is me, more or less. The trains are fictional. The numbers are not. These are rankings and associations across states, not proof that any one policy caused any one result. North Carolina is last on effort among the 49 states SFID rates; SFID doesn’t publish effort or adequacy estimates for Vermont, or adequacy estimates for Alaska and Hawaii.
Read the real thing
- America’s Worst States for Education (2026 Edition)
- America’s Best States for Education (2026 Edition)
- Red State, Blue State, Round Two: Arizona & Florida vs. New Jersey & Massachusetts
- Letter to the New Congress: Project 2027 Steps Toward Project 2029
- Two Songs for Florida’s Public Schools (With Receipts)
- Baker, Di Carlo & Weber (Feb. 2026), The Adequacy and Fairness of State School Finance Systems, 8th ed., and the SFID State Indicators Database, 2026 release
- Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book
- 2024 NAEP state averages (NCES); Tyner (Feb. 2026), The Fall to 48th, for pooled NAEP Core ranks
