Spending more doesn't seem to help. California is the best funded but worst grades.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/public-s...
But if you take these rankings at face value [2] it does seem there's more than spending at play here. Though perhaps spending simply has to be normalized against Cost of Living?
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/p...
The California department of education puts[1] per pupil k-12 spending at 23K, almost double that listed in the census.
>The total overall funding (federal, state, and local) for all K–12 education programs is $124.3 billion, with per-pupil spending of $21,596 in 2021–22. For 2020–21, per-pupil funding increased from $16,881 in the 2020–21 Budget Act to $23,089 in the 2021–22 Budget Act.
There is a minimum state funding of $13,976, which is pretty close to the census numbers. There could also be a difference due to comparing the 2023 CA budget to 2019 census data, but a near doubling in 4 years seems pretty extreme.
https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fr/eb/yr21ltr0811.asp#:~:text=For%....
I think you're right, the census is out of date. However, given spending likely has a lagging effect, the historically low budget - coupled with harsh covid lockdowns - does begin to explain why CA ranks low among public schools.