Startled to find school pawned (7)
I believe the answer is:
shocked
'startled' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'school pawned' is the wordplay.
'school' becomes 's'.
'pawned' becomes 'hocked' ('hock' can be a synonym of 'pawn').
's'+'hocked'='SHOCKED'
'to find' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for shocked that I've seen before include "Appalled" , "Traumatised" , "Offended, outraged" , "Surprised" , "Struck with horror" .)