Charter School Competition Research Articles

Effects of Charter School Competition on District School Budgeting Decisions: Experimental Evidence from Texas

ObjectiveThe effects of competition from public charter schools on district school budget decisions are theoretically ambiguous. Competitive pressures could increase desired budget autonomy since they give district school leaders more flexibility; however, competition could decrease desired budget autonomy if district school leaders are generally riskaverse or if they believe that central office staff are in better positions to make school‐level budget decisions. Competitive pressures could also increase or decrease changes in school‐level spending depending on school leaders’ beliefs about how to efficiently allocate resources.MethodsWe randomly assign surveys to district school leaders in Texas in the 2019–2020 school year to determine the effects of anticipated competition from public charter schools on reported desire for budget autonomy and expectations about future school‐level spending decisions.ResultsWe find the first experimental evidence to suggest that anticipated charter school competition has large negative effects on school leaders’ reported spending on certain categories of support staff, and reduces, or has no effect on, the reported desire for more school‐level budget autonomy. The negative effects on spending for support staff tend to be larger for school leaders with more experience.ConclusionAlthough more research is needed, these results suggest that competition from public charter schools could lead to reductions in spending for certain categories in district‐run public schools if school leaders have the autonomy to make budget decisions.

The Impact of Charter School Competition on Student Achievement of Traditional Public Schools after 25 Years: Evidence from National District-level Panel Data

ABSTRACT Most studies have focused on whether charter schools perform better than TPS. However, for the vast majority of students who remain in TPS, a more relevant question is whether charter schools have a positive or negative impact on their schools. This study uses national, district-level panel data to examine how charter school prevalence influences the academic performance of students from the same-district TPS. Our primary data source is the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA). The SEDA provides the average English and mathematics test scores for all US districts between 2009 and 2015. We assess the role of charter school penetration on TPS students’ performance in recent years, using various measures of charter school prevalence. Employing the district fixed effects model exploiting within-district variation, we find a small but negative association between charter school prevalence and both math and English achievement. Based on our findings, it seems premature to emphasize the virtue of competition charter schools bring to public education, and allocating more resources into charter schools should be undertaken with great caution.

The Influence of Charter School Competition on Public School District Revenues across the U.S.

The Influence of Charter School Competition on Public School District Revenues across the U.S.

Education Reform and School District Leadership: Did Initial Charter Penetration Influence Superintendent Salaries in Arizona?

Past works have assessed the “ripple effects” of charter campuses on nearby traditional public schools, but none have explored these effects on local school district leadership variables such as superintendent salaries. We examine the initial impact of elementary school (K-8) charter school competition on the salaries of Arizona district superintendents during 1995–99. Using first-difference regressions, the 1995–97 results, while tentative, find a complex array of impacts, with charter competition reducing pay raises only for highly vulnerable superintendents. However, these nuanced salary changes are replaced during 1997–99 by larger, more uniform system-wide pay increases. Finally, 1995–99 results partly replicate those from 1995–97. Implications for assessing the responsiveness of school districts to charter competition are discussed.

WHY DO CHARTER SCHOOLS FAIL? AN ANALYSIS OF CHARTER SCHOOL SURVIVAL IN NEW JERSEY

Charter school competition can only work as a policy to improve public education if schools that do not contribute to this goal are allowed to fail. We estimate survival regressions to assess the effects of various factors on the probability of school failure. We find that students’ test scores are the most important determinant of survival: a one standard deviation increase reduces the probability of failure by 76%. Higher expenditures per student and a longer wait list result in smaller, but significant, reductions. Enrollment, average performance in the host district, and student demographics do not significantly affect school survival.

Charter School Competition, Organization, and Achievement in Traditional Public Schools

Market models of education reform predict that the growth of charter schools will infuse competition into the public school sector, forcing traditional public schools to improve the practices they engage in to educate students. Some scholars have criticized these models, arguing that competition from charter schools is unlikely to produce significant change among public schools. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class, I attempt to identify potential mechanisms linking charter competition to achievement in traditional public schools. The results provide little support for the market model. Competition from charter schools is not associated with reading or math scores, and is only associated with three of ten organizational measures. There is some support for an indirect relationship between math achievement and competition through reductions in teacher absenteeism, but these results fall short of meeting conventional thresholds for statistical significance.

The Effects of Charter School Competition on School District Resource Allocation

Purpose: This article examines two questions: (a) How does resource allocation change in school districts experiencing sustained charter school competition? (b) Among districts exposed to charter competition, are there differences in the resource allocation adjustments between those that do and do not succeed in stemming further enrollment loss to charters? Research Design: The authors utilize fixed effect models to analyze a statewide panel data set of Michigan school districts from 1994 to 2006. The authors consider several dimensions of resource allocation—for example, average class size, teacher salaries, and spending shares devoted to a variety of disaggregated instructional and noninstructional functions, including administration. Findings: Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that competition from charter schools spurs regular public schools to shift resources to achievement-oriented activities. Charter competition has had remarkably little impact on standard measures of district resource use in Michigan schools. On the other hand, higher levels of charter competition clearly generate fiscal stress in districts. Moreover, changes in resource allocation cannot explain the differing trajectories of districts that do and do not turn back the competitive challenge. There are no significant differences in the resource allocation changes made by districts that stabilize enrollment loss to charters and those that continue to spiral down. Conclusions: The authors find no support for the hopeful prediction that competition from charter schools will compel school district leaders to shift resources to achievement-oriented activities.

How Traditional Public Schools Respond to Competition: The Mitigating Role of Organizational Culture

We assess whether the organizational culture of traditional public schools shapes their response to competition from charter schools in Arizona, which has a high level of charter school competition. We focus on traditional public elementary schools from 1995 to 1998, when charter schools were introduced in this state. We explore this topic by segmenting a sample of 81 traditional public elementary schools into two groups: those with high levels of principal–teacher collaboration just prior to charter competition, and a second group with low prior collaboration levels. We find that threatened entry increased teacher curriculum control for district schools with high principal–teacher collaboration but had no impact for schools with low collaboration. In contrast, actual charter entry did not influence teacher curriculum control for either high or low collaboration schools. These results suggest that organizational culture can modulate the impact of threatened entry on traditional public schools, although the statistical impacts are modest.

Is Charter School Competition in California Improving the Performance of Traditional Public Schools?

A premise of charter school initiatives has been that these schools have direct benefits for the students attending them and indirect benefits for other students by creating competition for traditional public schools to improve their performance. This study uses a two‐pronged approach to assess whether California charter schools are having indirect effects on students in traditional public schools. First, we examine how traditional public school principals react to the introduction of charter schools. Second, we assess whether competition from nearby charters is affecting student achievement outcomes for students that remain in traditional public schools. The survey results show that traditional public school principals felt little competitive pressure from charters. Similarly, the student achievement analysis shows that charter competition was not improving the performance of traditional public schools. These results suggest that California charter schools are having little effect on the climate of traditional public schools.

Coping With Competition: The impact of Charter Schooling on Public School Outreach in Arizona

Advocates of market‐based education reform hypothesize that competition will cause traditional public schools to increase outreach efforts as they seek to market themselves. Advocates hope such efforts will result in more information on school activities and performance and thereby enhance accountability. We examine the effect of charter school competition on outreach efforts by a sample of 98 Arizona district schools, finding that charter competition is associated with a short‐term increase in outreach. Organizational structure influenced school response, with more decentralized district schools responding more readily to charter competition. Competition modestly increased information regarding schooling in the short run, although long‐term implications are less clear.