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The Impact of Facilities on the Cost of Education

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  • Gronberg, Timothy J.
  • Jansen, Dennis W.
  • Taylor, Lori L.

Abstract

This paper uses new data on school district capital stocks, stochastic frontier analysis, and a value-added measure of school quality to provide the first direct evaluation of the relationship between school facilities and school district costs. We find that the cost of education increases as the capital stock increases, suggesting either that school districts are grossly overcapitalized or that nicer facilities reflect an important, unmeasured dimension of school quality. We also find that cost function estimates for Texas are largely insensitive to the exclusion of the capital stock measures, suggesting that stochastic frontier cost function estimates without a capital stock measure are unlikely to be biased.

Suggested Citation

  • Gronberg, Timothy J. & Jansen, Dennis W. & Taylor, Lori L., 2011. "The Impact of Facilities on the Cost of Education," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(1), pages 193-218, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:64:y:2011:i:1:p:193-218
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2011.1.08
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Duncombe, William & Yinger, John, 2005. "How much more does a disadvantaged student cost?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 513-532, October.
    2. William Duncombe & John Yinger, 2007. "Does School District Consolidation Cut Costs?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 341-375, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Reback, Randall, 2008. "Teaching to the rating: School accountability and the distribution of student achievement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1394-1415, June.
    5. Jones, John T. & W. Zimmer, Ron, 2001. "Examining the impact of capital on academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 577-588, December.
    6. Caroline M. Hoxby & Sonali Murarka, 2009. "Charter Schools in New York City: Who Enrolls and How They Affect Their Students' Achievement," NBER Working Papers 14852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Andrew Reschovsky & Jennifer Imazeki, 2003. "Let No Child Be Left Behind: Determining the Cost of Improving Student Performance," Public Finance Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 263-290, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shawna Grosskopf & Kathy Hayes & Lori Taylor & William L Weber, 2017. "Would weighted-student funding enhance intra-district equity in Texas? A simulation using DEA," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 377-389, April.
    2. Gronberg, Timothy J. & Jansen, Dennis W. & Taylor, Lori L., 2012. "The relative efficiency of charter schools: A cost frontier approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 302-317.
    3. Shawna Grosskopf & Kathy Hayes & Lori Taylor & William Weber, 2015. "Centralized or decentralized control of school resources? A network model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 139-150, April.
    4. Timothy J. Gronberg & Dennis W. Jansen & Lori L. Taylor, 2017. "Are Charters the Best Alternative? A Cost Frontier Analysis of Alternative Education Campuses in Texas," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(3), pages 721-743, January.

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