And there is enough money to send kids to school. Oklahoma's per student spending is at the OECD average. If it were a country, it'd be between Spain and Italy in education spending per student.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/02/the-...
Oklahoma's median income is well above the OECD average. It's nearly 40% higher than Italy. Teacher salaries in Oklahoma are accordingly higher. They're going to have to spend quite a bit more than Italy and Spain.
Regarding missiles. If we spent... $200 billion less on defense, which we easily could afford to do, the Federal Government could kick that money down to the states for other purposes (infrastructure, education, healthcare). And or the Federal Govt could lower taxes and the states could raise their taxes.
Lastly, I don't think the Italy numbers take into account healt care costs of teachers. America's stupid health care system and its relegation to employers to include health care into salaries is going to really skew numbers.
There's the problem. Why would an Oklahoma teacher accept the same standard of living as an Italian teacher when there are plenty of other Oklahoma jobs available?
Adjusting for PPP parity the gross median household income in Italy is about 46% of US median income [1]. Oklahoma median household income is about 85% of US median income [2].
Even when you account for the cheaper cost of living in Italy, you need to pay people more money in Oklahoma. This is as true in education as in any other industry.