Unsurprisingly, educational reform in Mississippi that started in 2013 has yet to percolate up to high schools.

As to equity, Mississippi is doing better for black students than almost anyone else:

> Black students are as likely to be basic-or-above readers in Mississippi (where the median Black household income was $37,900 in 2023) as in national top performer Massachusetts (where the median Black household income was $67,000 in 2022.)

As to your other point, Mississippi receives the same amount of federal spending per person as New York: https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Balance-of-P... (page 11). New York of course pays more in taxes—because it has Wall Street and Mississippi doesn’t.