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Why Do School District Budget Referenda Fail?

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  • Ronald G. Ehrenberg
  • Randy A. Ehrenberg
  • Christopher L. Smith
  • Liang Zhang

Abstract

Our paper analyzes historical data for New York State on the percentagee of school budget proposals that are defeated each year and panel data that we have collected on budget vote success for indvidual school districts in the state. We find that changes in state aid matter, but not as much as one might expect. Defeating a budget proposal in one year neither increases nor decreases the likelihood that voters will defeat a proposal the next year. Districts whose school board members have longer terms have lower probabilities of having their budget proposals defeated. Finally, measures of school district educational and financial performance do not appear to influence budget vote outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Randy A. Ehrenberg & Christopher L. Smith & Liang Zhang, 2002. "Why Do School District Budget Referenda Fail?," NBER Working Papers 9088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9088
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gramlich, Edward M & Rubinfeld, Daniel L, 1982. "Micro Estimates of Public Spending Demand Functions and Tests of the Tiebout and Median-Voter Hypotheses," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(3), pages 536-560, June.
    2. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Richard P. Chaykowski & Randy A. Ehrenberg, 1988. "Determinants of the Compensation and Mobility of School Superintendents," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(3), pages 386-401, April.
    3. Dunne, Stephanie & Reed, W Robert & Wilbanks, James, 1997. "Endogenizing the Median Voter: Public Choice Goes to School," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 93(1-2), pages 99-118, October.
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    5. Lankford, Ralph Hamilton, 1985. "Efficiency and Equity in the Provision of Public Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 70-80, February.
    6. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shannon Suldo & E. Huebner, 2006. "Is Extremely High Life Satisfaction During Adolescence Advantageous?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(2), pages 179-203, September.
    2. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2017. "Coauthors and Collaborations," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 62(1), pages 3-18, March.
    3. Paul N. Thompson & Joseph Whitley, 2017. "The effect of school district and municipal government financial health information on local tax election outcomes: evidence from fiscal stress labels in Ohio," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 265-288, March.
    4. Lee, Kyung-Gon & Polachek, Solomon, 2014. "Do School Budgets Matter? The Effect of Budget Referenda on Student Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 8056, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Huan Gong & Cynthia L. Rogers, 2014. "Does Voter Turnout Influence School Bond Elections?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(1), pages 247-262, July.
    6. Yaw M. Mensah & Michael P. Schoderbek & Min Cao & Savita A. Sahay, 2023. "The disciplinary effect of taxpayer balloting on public spending: some empirical evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 791-819, February.
    7. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 2005. "Involving Undergraduates in Research To Encourage Them To Undertake Ph.D. Study in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 184-188, May.
    8. Rockoff, Jonah E., 2010. "Local response to fiscal incentives in heterogeneous communities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 138-147, September.
    9. Marc Meredith, 2009. "The Strategic Timing Of Direct Democracy," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 159-177, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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