[nshelly]

Interesting point. The same could be said about K-12 education (in the US), where it's funded by local communities through property taxes but the grads often pick up and move to cities like NYC and SF. However, providing a differing education to those who are gifted has low marginal costs - AP teachers are paid the same amount, and teachers will often take less pay to work with motivated students. Obviously, students (and adults) who fall from the cracks may become dependent on the local communities, so there is high ROI for the taxpayer there as well.

Broadly speaking and if it can be done effectively, funding education on a higher municipal level makes more sense as it's less likely recipients will take their education elsewhere.