Scale Economies in Public Education: Evidence from School Level Data

Abstract

structure of school finance regimes in the United States has been a subject of much political and legal debate over the past three decades. Court rulings have required many states to restructure school financing methods in order to pursue some concept of equality.1 Achieving equality of spending is, of course, a simple matter. Developing a funding mechanism that provides for equality of educational opportunity, however, is difficult since such a system, by definition, must allow for cost differences across schools and districts.