The place rule sets the limit on what money can buy through where a person lives. With floor credits and contribution income, people choose where to live, and above the floor the most desirable places go to those with more. That is acceptable for beauty and amenity.
It is not acceptable for the public share of life chances. Healthcare, formation, legal access, communication, and public safety meet the same floor everywhere. The floor for formation is measured like the material floor: independent bodies estimate what a full start requires, the figure paid is the median of their estimates, and it rises as abundance grows. The funds that pay for it are distributed by population and need, so places with more need get more.
Above the floor, a town may spend its own money on its own schools and programs, just as a person may spend above the floor on their own life. Two guards keep that from turning into a gap in life chances. The floor must be high, because a low floor becomes the poor town’s ceiling. And scarce formation goods, such as a selective program or a coveted apprenticeship, are allocated by the child’s fit, never by the extras a richer place supplied. Families may spend on their own children as they choose; the rule governs public provision, not family life. Where the floor is not met in practice, the formation gap responds. See provision, formation, placement.