You're excluding the fundraising capacity and ancillary services funded and paid for by the PTA.
Wealthy neighborhoods have PTA budgets that are in the hundreds of thousands/millions. They pay for after school activities, language immersion programs, music, sports, you name it.
It is shocking the discrepancy between neighborhoods in NYC. Average donation per pupil might be $20 in a poor neighborhood and $5,000 in a wealthy one.
We saw this first-hand in San Diego. We luckily found a place to rent in a pretty well-off area (Point Loma) and our kids elementary school regularly raised >$250,000 a year for the school (1st through 4th grades). When we moved to a more "normal" school in another state, we found their stretch goal was more like $30,000 and it took all year to get there. The first school paid for multiple extra teachers and aides, as well as lots of other benefits.
Wealthy neighborhoods have PTA budgets that are in the hundreds of thousands/millions. They pay for after school activities, language immersion programs, music, sports, you name it.
It is shocking the discrepancy between neighborhoods in NYC. Average donation per pupil might be $20 in a poor neighborhood and $5,000 in a wealthy one.