Well the same Chat GPT that told me minimum wage was $7 plugged that in, so maybe the numbers in general are suspect? I'm pretty sure minimum wage still exists. McDonalds in Texas pays 11. I think you get my point, and additionally, the math doesn't change much if they're making 310 a week versus 260. Also, it's not about "people I know." I don't know anyone, but I know these people exist.
You talk about administration in Texas being bloated, but that's not the point. The point is money spent per student in Texas has gone down in aggregate consistently for a long, long time now. This isn't a new thing. And saying it's bloated admin, who cares. The point is, These Programs and this kind of education DOESN'T EXIST for kids. The same way we all bemoan that we don't teach kids about personal finance in public schools either.
I think you're putting a bit too much faith in ChatGPT. Dollars spent "in education" divided by students isn't a good metric. You're a Houstonian, I'm sure you're at least somewhat tangentially familiar with Mike Miles accused of funneling money to his charter schools in Colorado, or the state of HISD that brought about Miles to be inserted as head of HISD. Ask teachers how it's going, every single teacher I've known the past 10 years has spent a sad, pathetic amount of their already meager income on their own classroom supplies. Fund raises are held to supplement school funding. This shit didn't happen when we were children. And that willy only get worse when vouchers take hold. Texas is in the bottom quartile of per student spending in the country:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/per-pupil-spending-by-state
The cuts being made in Texas are in Teachers, Special Education Teachers and funding in general, and resulting in class size bloating, etc. But that's not this debate. But to sit there and pretend that the state is awash in funds they're willing to give back to programs for education of any kind, much less food education and obesity when they won't even uphold their financial obligations for special needs children is extremely naive. Or it's not naive at all.