For many families, the composition and quality of local public schools are primary factors in choosing a neighbourhood and investing in a house or apartment. Families who can afford to choose where to live avoid communities where schools perform poorly, thereby fuelling higher rents and property values in communities with highly regarded schools. In turn, local property values determine how much a jurisdiction can spend on teachers and school facilities. And as a consequence, schools in communities where low-cost housing is clustered often suffer from insufficient funding, obsolete facilities, and overextended teachers struggling to serve concentrations of needy students.