Abstract
"This study investigates the influence of school quality (measured at the high school level) on 1980 to 1990 population and employment change for nonmetropolitan fringe and hinterland census tracts in South Carolina. A Boarnet variation of the Carlino-Mills model is used to examine the interdependence of population and employment change.... Results...indicate that fringe tracts' population growth was positively related to student test scores, and hinterland tracts population and employment growth were negatively related to student-teacher ratios. Empirical results suggest that local school quality provided a positive influence on rural growth, primarily in terms of residential growth. The role of school quality for employment growth was less clear."
Highlights
A continuing concern of nonmetropolitan communities is their ability to provide an environment for the sustainable growth of jobs and residents
Population changes were relatively low in areas with rapid employment growth during the period, a finding consistent with Waddell's (1993) research indicating that suburbanization is discouraged by growth in manufacturing and other industries
Both population and employment growth were relatively large in hinterland tracts with lower students-to-teacher ratios, and population growth was greatest in fringe tracts with schools reporting high average test scores
Summary
A continuing concern of nonmetropolitan communities is their ability to provide an environment for the sustainable growth of jobs and residents. A potential strategy for providing a conducive environment for growth is improvement in the quality of local public schools. "Good" schools may contribute to future labor quality and enable communities to better compete for industrial activity (Rasmussen 1994). An enhanced role for school quality in industrial recruitment, retention, and expansion efforts results from a greater emphasis by businesses on labor quality and productivity in the new global economy (Berman, Bound and Griliches 1994; Gyan-Baffour and Shaffer 1993; Teixeira and Swain 1991; Beyers, Johnsen, and Stranahan 1987). School quality is an important component of local quality of life, and school improvements will enhance the attractiveness of a community to potential residents and businesses for whom quality of life is a location factor (Herzog and Schlottman 1991; Boarnet 1994). Regardless of whether "jobs follow people" or "people follow jobs," good schools may contribute to local economic growth and development
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