Researchers from the advocacy nonprofit Children Now compared high schools of the same size and demographics in Illinois, New Jersey and California (Gunderson High in San Jose Unified) to determine what difference funding makes. A lot, they found. Gunderson’s cost-adjusted per-student funding is about half of Urbana High, in Illinois, and 60 percent of Garfield High, in New Jersey. Its student-to-teacher ratio was far larger; there were fewer teachers, administrators, counselors and instruction support staff such as social workers, far fewer after-school clubs; fewer courses in math, career technology education and the arts, and fewer hours for teacher training and collaboration.