IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v183y2020ics0047272720300062.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

School district operational spending and student outcomes: Evidence from tax elections in seven states

Author

Listed:
  • Abott, Carolyn
  • Kogan, Vladimir
  • Lavertu, Stéphane
  • Peskowitz, Zachary

Abstract

We use close tax elections to estimate the impact of school district funding increases on operational spending and student outcomes across seven states. Districts with passing levies directed new revenue toward support services and instructor salaries but did not increase teacher staffing levels. These districts eventually realized gains in student achievement and attainment. Our preferred estimates imply that increasing operational spending by $1000 per pupil increased test scores by approximately 0.15 of a standard deviation and graduation rates by approximately 9 percentage points. There is some evidence of diminishing returns, as these effects are driven by districts below the median in spending per pupil. Based on research linking academic outcomes to earnings, we conclude that these spending increases were likely cost-effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Abott, Carolyn & Kogan, Vladimir & Lavertu, Stéphane & Peskowitz, Zachary, 2020. "School district operational spending and student outcomes: Evidence from tax elections in seven states," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:183:y:2020:i:c:s0047272720300062
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272720300062
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104142?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordon, Nora, 2004. "Do federal grants boost school spending? Evidence from Title I," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1771-1792, August.
    2. Lavertu, Stéphane & Clair, Travis St., 2018. "Beyond spending levels: Revenue uncertainty and the performance of local governments," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 59-80.
    3. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    4. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    5. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Fernando Ferreira & Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "The Value of School Facility Investments: Evidence from a Dynamic Regression Discontinuity Design," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 215-261.
    6. Caroline Minter Hoxby, 1996. "How Teachers' Unions Affect Education Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 671-718.
    7. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Max H. Farrell & Rocío Titiunik, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity Designs Using Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 442-451, July.
    8. James J. Heckman & Paul A. LaFontaine, 2010. "The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 244-262, May.
    9. Martorell, Paco & Stange, Kevin & McFarlin, Isaac, 2016. "Investing in schools: capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 13-29.
    10. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2633-2679, September.
    11. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "Does School Spending Matter? The New Literature on an Old Question," NBER Working Papers 25368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Matthew A. Kraft, 2019. "Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-36.
    13. Barbara Biasi, 2018. "The Labor Market for Teachers Under Different Pay Schemes," NBER Working Papers 24813, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Julien Lafortune & Jesse Rothstein & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2018. "School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-26, April.
    15. C. Kirabo Jackson & Rucker C. Johnson & Claudia Persico, 2016. "The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 157-218.
    16. Christopher A. Candelaria & Kenneth A. Shores, 2019. "Court-Ordered Finance Reforms in the Adequacy Era: Heterogeneous Causal Effects and Sensitivity," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 14(1), pages 31-60, Winter.
    17. Paco Martorel & Kevin Stange & Isaac McFarlin Jr., 2016. "Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions, and Student Achievement (Revised and Edited)," Upjohn Working Papers 16-256, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    18. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "What Do Test Scores Miss? The Importance of Teacher Effects on Non–Test Score Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 2072-2107.
    19. Britton, Jack & Propper, Carol, 2016. "Teacher pay and school productivity: Exploiting wage regulation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 75-89.
    20. Hong, Kai & Zimmer, Ron, 2016. "Does Investing in School Capital Infrastructure Improve Student Achievement?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 143-158.
    21. Eric A. Hanushek, 2003. "The Failure of Input-Based Schooling Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 64-98, February.
    22. C. Kirabo Jackson & Cora Wigger & Heyu Xiong, 2018. "Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from The Great Recession," NBER Working Papers 24203, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Jing & Li, Rui, 2023. "Pay for elite private schools or pay for higher housing prices? Evidence from an exogenous policy shock," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. María Orduz, 2022. "Effect of educational spending on academic performance under different institutional arrangements," Documentos CEDE 20224, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    3. Francesco Ruggieri, 2023. "Dynamic Regression Discontinuity: A Within-Design Approach," Papers 2307.14203, arXiv.org.
    4. Nicolai T. Borgen & Lars J. Kirkebøen & Andreas Kotsadam & Oddbjørn Raaum, 2022. "Do funds for more teachers improve student outcomes?," Discussion Papers 982, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Biasi, Barbara & Lafortune, Julien & Schönholzer, David, 2024. "What Works and For Whom? Effectiveness and Efficiency of School Capital Investments Across The U.S," CEPR Discussion Papers 18745, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Danielle V. Handel & Eric A. Hanushek, 2024. "Contexts of Convenience: Generalizing from Published Evaluations of School Finance Policies," Evaluation Review, , vol. 48(3), pages 461-494, June.
    7. Whitney, Joseph, 2024. "The Relationship Between Institutional Spending & College Student Persistence: Where Should Universities Spend Their Money?," Master's Theses and Plan B Papers 342960, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    8. Brunner, Eric & Hoen, Ben & Hyman, Joshua, 2022. "School district revenue shocks, resource allocations, and student achievement: Evidence from the universe of U.S. wind energy installations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    9. Enami, Ali & Alm, James & Aranda, Rodrigo, 2021. "Labor versus capital in the provision of public services: Estimating the marginal products of inputs in the production of student outcomes✰," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Wenjie Yu & Hongfan Ma, 2022. "Expenditure Responsibility Assignment and High-Quality Equity of Compulsory Education—Empirical Analysis Based on OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-12, August.
    11. Cook, Jason & Lavertu, Stéphane & Miller, Corbin, 2021. "Rent-Seeking through collective bargaining: Teachers unions and education production☆," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "Does School Spending Matter? The New Literature on an Old Question," NBER Working Papers 25368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Cook, Jason & Lavertu, Stéphane & Miller, Corbin, 2021. "Rent-Seeking through collective bargaining: Teachers unions and education production☆," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Brunner, Eric & Hoen, Ben & Hyman, Joshua, 2022. "School district revenue shocks, resource allocations, and student achievement: Evidence from the universe of U.S. wind energy installations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    4. María Orduz, 2022. "Effect of educational spending on academic performance under different institutional arrangements," Documentos CEDE 20224, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    5. Andrew Agopsowicz & Chris Robinson & Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner, 2020. "Careers and Mismatch for College Graduates: College and Noncollege Jobs," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(4), pages 1194-1221.
    6. Jose Maria Cabrera & Dinand Webbink, 2020. "Do Higher Salaries Yield Better Teachers and Better Student Outcomes?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(4), pages 1222-1257.
    7. Enami, Ali & Alm, James & Aranda, Rodrigo, 2021. "Labor versus capital in the provision of public services: Estimating the marginal products of inputs in the production of student outcomes✰," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Corey A. DeAngelis & Christian Barnard, 2021. "Effects of Charter School Competition on District School Budgeting Decisions: Experimental Evidence from Texas," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 523-546, January.
    9. R. Jisung Park & Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2020. "Heat and Learning," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 306-339, May.
    10. Ding, Yanqing & Lu, Fengming & Ye, Xiaoyang, 2020. "Intergovernmental transfer under heterogeneous accountabilities: The effects of the 2006 Chinese Education Finance Reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Cordis, Adriana S. & Muzatko, Steven, 2021. "Higher education spending and CPA exam performance," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    12. Eric Brunner & Joshua Hyman & Andrew Ju, 2020. "School Finance Reforms, Teachers' Unions, and the Allocation of School Resources," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 473-489, July.
    13. Emma García & Eunice S. Han, 2022. "Teachers’ Base Salary and Districts’ Academic Performance: Evidence From National Data," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    14. Dinand Webbink & José María Cabrera, 2016. "Do higher salaries yield better teachers and better student outcomes?," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1604, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    15. Naven, Matthew, 2019. "Human-Capital Formation During Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from School Quality and Postsecondary Success in California," MPRA Paper 97716, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Michael Dinerstein & Troy D. Smith, 2021. "Quantifying the Supply Response of Private Schools to Public Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(10), pages 3376-3417, October.
    17. Asma Benhenda, 2020. "The impact of school facility expenditures on pupil attainment," CEPEO Briefing Note Series 10, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Nov 2020.
    18. Greaves, Ellen & Sibieta, Luke, 2019. "Constrained optimisation? Teacher salaries, school resources and student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Conlin, Michael & Thompson, Paul N., 2017. "Impacts of new school facility construction: An analysis of a state-financed capital subsidy program in Ohio," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 13-28.
    20. Belmonte, Alessandro & Bove, Vincenzo & D’Inverno, Giovanna & Modica, Marco, 2020. "School infrastructure spending and educational outcomes: Evidence from the 2012 earthquake in Northern Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Student achievement; Education finance; School districts; Tax elections;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:183:y:2020:i:c:s0047272720300062. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.