Yes, though it's important to note that the economic notion of value is weighted according to wealth and therefore more than a bit weird. Feeding an orphan creates no "value" because they have no money to pay you with, while merging companies into a mega-monopoly that can shake down the rest of the economy creates loads of "value" because it pays rich investors huge dividends. Of course, there are plenty of honest ways to create value and get paid for it, and that's pretty cool. Both extremes exist, most things are in the messy middle, and reasonable minds can differ about which way the system leans and what should be done about it, if anything.
Another piece of important context is that the US is a developed economy, not a growth economy. If the pie is growing at 2% and the capital slice of the pie is growing at 10%, anyone who lives in the remainder and argues that their slice is being grown is a fool.
I appreciate your point in general, but I doubt the specific one you made. At least for the US.
The US ever larger amounts of money per pupil (around $17,280 per pupil annually these days according to the Internet), but educational outcomes haven't really changed much over the decades. Whether you measure that in absolute terms or by international comparison.
It's not necessarily zero sum. If money is invested to produce value instead of simply moving it around then everyone can benefit.