Per-pupil Expenditures Research Articles

Implicações da pandemia da COVID-19 para o financiamento da educação básica

Resumo O objetivo do presente artigo é estimar impactos da queda da arrecadação tributária para o financiamento da educação básica em virtude dos efeitos econômicos adversos da pandemia da COVID-19. Para tanto, são analisados três cenários hipotéticos de queda da arrecadação e seus efeitos para as receitas da educação nos estados e municípios, por meio de um modelo de previsão que combinou dados de receitas de impostos com receitas vinculadas a educação e matrículas. No cenário mais otimista, a redução da receita líquida de impostos de 7% implicaria um decréscimo dos recursos para educação básica de R$ 16,6 bilhões por ano. A receita aluno-mês, que, em 2018, foi de R$ 460,00 em média, poderia cair em proporções que variam entre 4,1% e 26,9%, a depender do cenário de redução e do contexto de cada município. Diante da previsível diminuição de recursos, são propostas medidas urgentes para atenuar o aprofundamento das desigualdades na educação, as quais convergem para a transferência de recursos da União aos governos subnacionais. Finalmente ressalta-se o papel virtuoso do investimento na educação, dada a capilaridade desta e o seu caráter intensivo em pessoal.

The Segregation of Opportunity: Social and Financial Resources in the Educational Contexts of Lower- and Higher-Income Children, 1990-2014.

This article provides a rich longitudinal portrait of the financial and social resources available in the school districts of high- and low-income students in the United States from 1990 to 2014. Combining multiple publicly available data sources for most school districts in the United States, we document levels and gaps in school district financial resources-total per-pupil expenditures-and social resources-local rates of adult educational attainment, family structure, and adult unemployment-available to the average public school student at a variety of income levels over time. In addition to using eligibility for the National School Lunch Program as a blunt measure of student income, we estimate resource inequalities between income deciles to analyze resource gaps between affluent and poor children. We then examine the relationship between income segregation and resource gaps between the school districts of high- and low-income children. In previous work, the social context of schooling has been a theoretical but unmeasured mechanism through which income segregation may operate to create unequal opportunities for children. Our results show large and, in some cases, growing social resource gaps in the districts of high- and low-income students nationally and provide evidence that these gaps are exacerbated by income segregation. Conversely, per-pupil funding became more compensatory between high- and low-income students' school districts over this period, especially in highly segregated states. However, there are early signs of reversal in this trend. The results provide evidence that school finance reforms have been somewhat effective in reducing the consequences of income segregation on funding inequities, while inequalities in the social context of schooling continue to grow.

Schoolhouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Education Spending in the States

Using new estimates of state-level public opinion, I explore the relationship between support for increased education spending and statewide per-pupil expenditures from 1986 to 2013. In the 1980s, there was a modest, positive relationship between public opinion and actual spending: States with greater support for increased education spending tended to have slightly higher per pupil expenditures. Over the next three decades, this relationship reversed. States with relatively low per-pupil expenditures tended to increase their spending at a slower rate despite steady growth in support for more spending. As a result, public opinion and education spending became inversely related. By the end of the time series, states with greater support for increased education spending tended to spend less per pupil. The changing distribution of local, state, and federal sources of education spending partially explains this pattern. As federal education expenditures rose, some states spent proportionally less from state and local sources, resulting in smaller overall spending increases in those states.

Quality and quantity: The association of state-level educational policies with later life cardiovascular disease

Education is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. While the majority of the literature has focused on years of educational attainment or degree attainment, fewer studies examine the role of educational quality in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We tested the hypothesis that average state-level educational quality was associated with CVD, linking state-level data on educational quality with individual demographic and health data from multiple waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 34,770). We examined thirteen CVD-related outcomes—including blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart attack—to understand the multiple pathways through which educational quality may influence CVD. The primary predictor was a composite index of educational quality, combining state-level measures of student-teacher ratios, per-pupil expenditures, and school term length. We fit multivariable models, regressing each outcome on the educational quality composite index and adjusting for individual- and state-level covariates. We also assessed whether the association between state educational quality and CVD differed for less educated individuals. Overall, higher educational quality was associated with less smoking (OR = 0.86, 95%CI: 0.77, 0.97), but there was no statistically significant association for the other 12 outcomes. Interaction tests indicated that less educated individuals benefited less from higher educational quality relative to those with more education for several outcomes. Our study suggests that state-level educational quality is not strongly associated with CVD, and that this null association overall may mask heterogeneous benefits that accrue disproportionately to those with higher levels of education.

Differential associations between state-level educational quality and cardiovascular health by race: Early-life exposures and late-life health.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are patterned by educational attainment but educational quality is rarely examined. Educational quality differences may help explain racial disparities. Health and Retirement Study respondent data (1992–2014; born 1900–1951) were linked to state- and year-specific educational quality measures when the respondent was 6 years old. State-level educational quality was a composite of state-level school term length, student-to-teacher ratio, and per-pupil expenditure. CVD-related outcomes were self-reported (N = 24,339) obesity, heart disease, stroke, ever-smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and objectively measured (N = 10,704) uncontrolled blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and C-reactive protein. Race/ethnicity was classified as White, Black, or Latino. Cox models fit for dichotomous time-to-event outcomes and generalized estimating equations for continuous outcomes were adjusted for individual and state-level confounders. Heterogeneities by race were evaluated using state-level educational quality by race interaction terms; race-pooled, race by educational quality interaction, and race-specific estimates were calculated. In race-pooled analyses, higher state-level educational quality was protective for obesity (HR = 0.92; 95%CI(0.87,0.98)). In race-specific estimates for White Americans, state-level educational quality was protective for high blood pressure (HR = 0.95; 95%CI(0.91,0.99). Differential relationships among Black compared to White Americans were observed for obesity, heart disease, stroke, smoking, high blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol. In race-specific estimates for Black Americans, higher state-level educational quality was protective for obesity (HR = 0.88; 95%CI(0.84,0.93)), but predictive of heart disease (HR = 1.07; 95%CI(1.01,1.12)), stroke (HR = 1.20; 95%CI(1.08,1.32)), and smoking (HR = 1.05; 95%CI(1.02,1.08)). Race-specific hazard ratios for Latino and Black Americans were similar for obesity, stroke, and smoking. Better state-level educational quality had differential associations with CVD by race. Among minorities, better state-level educational quality was predominately associated with poorer CVD outcomes. Results evaluate the 1900–1951 birth cohorts; secular changes in the racial integration of schools since the 1950s, means results may not generalize to younger cohorts.

Educational resources and student achievement: Evidence from the Save Harmless provision in New York State

A long-standing debate in the economics of education literature is whether increasing educational resources moves the needle on student achievement. Education finance reformers advocate delivering extra resources to disadvantaged school districts to close academic achievement gaps, but their efforts are subject to criticism from skeptics who believe that extra resources do not actually improve performance. This study leverages variation in per-pupil expenditures from a specific provision of the state aid formula in New York State that allows districts to maintain prior levels of total state aid even as their student enrollment declines. We uncover achievement gains of approximately 0.047 standard deviations in math and 0.042 standard deviations in English corresponding to $1000 in additional per-pupil spending. This study strengthens the case that school resources matter, and that sustained financial investments can help districts maintain and improve quality of public education.

Privatization and school practices: Evidence from Seoul’s high school choice policy

In Korea, private schools are publicly operated due to a high level of governmental control and subsidy over them. However, with the start of a high school choice program in 2010, the Seoul Local Education Authority privatized a significant proportion of publicly-run private schools by granting them greater autonomy over school operations and curriculum and by making their budget depend on their student enrollments. This study examines how private high schools changed their practices in expenditures, curriculum, and personnel after they became privatized. Evidence suggests that privatization significantly increases schools’ per-pupil expenditures, especially for academic activities. In addition, findings indicate that privatization increases schools’ instructional time for Korean and math while reducing time for social studies. Finally, findings suggest that, on average, schools hire teachers with fewer years of teaching experience after they became privatized.

In Pursuit of the Common Good: The Spillover Effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City

A particularly controversial topic in current education policy is the expansion of the charter school sector. This paper analyzes the spillover effects of charter schools on traditional public school (TPS) students in New York City. I exploit variation in both the timing of charter school entry and distance to the nearest charter school to obtain credibly causal estimates of the impacts of charter schools on TPS student performance, and I am among the first to estimate the impacts of charter school co-location. I further add to the literature by exploring potential mechanisms for these findings with school-level data on per pupil expenditures (PPE), and parent and teacher perceptions of schools. Briefly, I find charter schools significantly increase TPS student performance in both English Language Arts and math, and decrease the probability of grade retention. Effects increase with charter school proximity and are largest in TPSs co-located with charter schools. Potential explanations for improved performance include increased PPE, academic expectations, student engagement, and a more respectful and safe school environment after charter entry. The findings suggest that more charter schools in New York City may be beneficial at the margin, and co-location may be mutually beneficial for charter and traditional public schools.

Democracy in Action and the Creation of Colorado’s School Finance Gordian Knot

This policy study traces the history of school finance in Colorado over four and a half decades and describes how the available levers of direct democracy in the state have led to a seemingly insurmountable political logjam that is restricting budgets for all essential government services. Precollegiate education is particularly affected as evidenced by continuously declining per-pupil expenditures, as compared with the national average, and growing funding inequities among school districts. The study primarily analyzes how state constitutional amendments, initiated by the legislature or citizen groups, have created a school finance system in Colorado that is inadequate, inequitable, and seemingly intractable, while at the same time continues to consume a growing percent of the state budget.

School expenditures and academic achievement differences between high-ELL-performing and low-ELL-performing high schools

ABSTRACTEnglish Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest-growing K–12 populations across the nation. Educating secondary ELLs poses a unique challenge to U.S. schools. For instance, ELLs tend to experience high rates of poverty and attend segregated, underfunded, and unsafe schools. With the League of United Latin American Citizens vs. Texas case that focuses on the appropriateness and effectiveness of secondary ELL programs as a backdrop, this study explores differences in academic achievement and expenditures between Texas secondary schools with the highest levels of ELL academic achievement and schools with the lowest ELL levels of academic achievement. More specifically, this study examines the following primary questions: (a) What are the achievement results and demographic characteristics of Texas’s top- and bottom-performing schools categorized by the academic performance of ELL students? (b) To what extent do Texas’s top- and bottom-performing schools differ with respect to per-pupil school expenditure by funding category? The study finds that schools with the highest ELL achievement expend much more than schools with the lowest ELL achievement, particularly in regular base programs that are directed toward the basic education/instruction services for all students, not just ELLs.

The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review

This paper examines the size, growth, salaries, per-pupil-costs, pupil achievement levels and cost-effectiveness of private schools, and compares these with the government school sector. Official data show a steep growth of private schooling and a corresponding rapid shrinkage in the size of the government school sector in India, suggesting parental abandonment of government schools. Data show that a very large majority of private schools in most states are 'low-fee' when judged in relation to: state per capita income, per-pupil expenditure in the government schools, and the officially-stipulated rural minimum wage rate for daily-wage-labour. This suggests that affordability is an important factor behind the migration towards and growth of private schools. The main reason for the very low fee levels in private schools is their lower teacher salaries, which the data show to be a small fraction of the salaries paid in government schools; this is possible because private schools pay the market-clearing wage, which is depressed by a large supply of unemployed graduates in the country, whereas government schools pay bureaucratically determined minimum-wages. Private schools' substantially lower per-student-cost combined with their students' modestly higher learning achievement levels, means that they are significantly more cost-effective than government schools. The paper shows how education policies relating to private schools are harmful when formulated without seeking the evidence.

Locating Chicago’s charter schools: A socio-spatial analysis

This project contributes to the body of research examining the implications of the geographic location of charter schools for student access, especially in high-poverty communities. Using geographic information systems (GIS) software, this paper uses data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of the census tracts in which Chicago’s charter schools tend to locate. Echoing the findings of other researchers who have examined charter school locational patterns, the present analyses found evidence of a “ceiling effect” by which many charter schools appear to locate in Chicago’s higher-needs census tracts, broadly cast, but avoid locating directly within those that are highest-need. The findings suggest that because Chicago’s charter schools face per-pupil expenditures that are often up to 20% less than those of traditional public schools, they may strategically leverage location to help shape student enrollment. By frequently locating near, but not directly within highest-need communities, charter schools may find it easier to attract a quorum of relatively higher achieving students who are less expensive to educate, therefore increasing their chances of meeting academic benchmarks and retaining their charters. By extending the findings of other researchers to the context of Chicago—where charters represent an ever-increasing share of the public school market—the present analyses may inform future revisions to the policies governing the authorization of charter schools in Chicago, with the goal of increasing access for highest-need students.

Demographic changes and education expenditures: A reinterpretation

Several empirical studies have estimated a negative relationship between the share of an area's elderly population and per-pupil education spending. These findings have often been interpreted as evidence that an aging population has hindered the growth in per-pupil expenditures. We offer a reinterpretation of these oft-cited estimates and demonstrate that the population has aged in a way not reflected in these earlier studies’ empirical designs. After fully accounting for actual U.S. population trends, we demonstrate that a rise in the elderly share of the population has resulted in a rise in per-pupil education spending, not a decline.

School Finance Equalization and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Does Equal Spending Lead to Equal Opportunities?

School finance reforms have been implemented across US states in the past 40 years to equalize expenditure across school districts. This paper exploits such changes to examine the effects of inequality in school expenditure on intergenerational income mobility of students. I use the slope coefficient of per-capita income on per-pupil expenditure within each commuting zone as a summary statistic of inequality in expenditure. I address issues of omitted variable bias and endogeneity of expenditure using the parameters of the financing formulas to generate simulated instruments for expenditure. OLS and 2SLS estimates show that school finance equalization substantially improves intergenerational mobility of children born in low-income families, and has no effect on mobility of richer children. The effect of equalization is largest during primary school years, and smallest during middle school years. My results also show that an overall increase in school expenditure improves mobility of poorer children. These results suggest that equalization of expenditure across districts is important to guarantee equal long-run opportunities of children.

India’s trade in higher education

India has had an extremely adverse balance of trade in education. Though only a minor education exporter through Mode 2, India is the world’s second largest student-sending country. Nevertheless, given English as the medium of instruction especially in apex institutions, low tuition and cost of living, quite a few world-class institutions, and a long tradition of hosting international students, India should have been an attractive destination. The paper, therefore, aims at investigating into the reasons for this failure by undertaking a two-phase empirical analysis. The findings of the first phase using the panel data and pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) techniques attribute this failure to India’s lower per capita income, gross enrollment ratio (GER), and per-pupil expenditure, and none of its institutions being among the top 200 world university rankings. The findings of the second phase using the logit and probit models suggest that the probability of attracting international students by those institutions significantly increases which provide a hostel facility and fellowships, have a dedicated agency, and are accredited, privately-owned and unitary type.

Incorporating Access to More Effective Teachers into Assessments of Educational Resource Equity

To address gaps in achievement between more- and less-affluent students, states and districts need to ensure that high-poverty students and schools have equitable access to educational resources. Traditionally, assessments of resource equity have focused on per-pupil expenditures and more proximal inputs, such as teacher credentials and class size, despite the inconsistent and/or weak relationships between these measures and student performance. Given the sizable and direct effects of teachers on student achievement, we argue that (1) teachers’ value-added scores should be incorporated into assessments of resource equity and (2) providing schools with greater flexibility for setting salaries or using strategic staffing initiatives may be necessary to achieve an equitable distribution of effective teachers. To illustrate these assertions we incorporate teacher value added into a case study of resource allocation in the public high schools of Wayne County, North Carolina, which have been the target of a complaint by the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Introduction

Introduction

SMALL RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION IN TEXAS: AN ANALYSIS OF ITS IMPACT ON COST AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Historically, the number of public school districts in the United States has decreased despite a dramatic increase in the number of students enrolled. Although public school district consolidation has impacted districts of all sizes, since the late 1930’s smaller rural districts facing dwindling community resources have merged or consolidated with each other, resulting in fewer school districts. When school districts consolidate, all aspects of the newly-formed district are affected. Each year, lawmakers and rural public school district officials face dwindling finances, and each year these decision makers question whether to consolidate to avoid fiscal perils. Proponents tout the benefits of fiscal efficiency, a broadened curriculum, and a projected increase in student achievement. Critics argue that the community suffers when the community school closes, students are burdened with new transportation issues, increased academic opportunities do not necessarily impute to greater student performance, and a host of tangible and non-tangible arguments are put forth. This ex post facto quantitative study examines the fiscal efficiency of small, rural, consolidated school districts by comparing per-pupil expenditures with matched non-consolidated school districts in the state of Texas. The study also examines student achievement levels by comparing passing rate percentages on all Texas state assessment tests for 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade students attending these schools. For before and after consolidation comparison purposes, rural community public schools were matched according to Texas state designated “paired” protocol. Districts meeting Texas Education Agency (TEA) Snapshot criterion for Absorbing districts were matched with Joining districts. Expenditure and student achievement data for Absorbing and Joining districts were collected for the ten-year period from 1999 to 2009. A paired samples t-test measured differences in the district’s efficiency, and the Lawshe-Baker Normative t-test measured differences in student achievement. Four null hypotheses were examined with an a priori alpha level = 0.05. This study, when the data for the joining and absorbing districts was subjected to appropriate t-tests, supports other research that suggests per-pupil expenditures increased and student achievement decreased for the absorbing district. Keywords: per-pupil expenditures, student achievement, joining and absorbing districts

Educational Achievement and the Allocation of School Resources

The school resources – educational outcomes debate has focused almost exclusively on spending levels. We extend this by analysing the relationship between student achievement and schools' budget allocation decisions using panel data. Per-pupil expenditure has only a modest relationship with improvement in students' standardised test scores. However, budget allocation across spending categories matters for student achievement, particularly in grade 7. Ancillary teaching staff seems especially important in primary- and middle-school years. Spending on school leadership – primarily principals – is also linked to faster growth in literacy levels in these grades. On the whole, schools' spending patterns are broadly efficient.

Donating the Voucher: An Alternative Tax Treatment of Private School Enrollment

Executive SummaryApproximately 10% of school-age children in the United States are enrolled in private schools, relieving the financial burden on public school systems, and the taxpayers who support them, of the cost of their education. At present, the tax code does not allow families who provide this financial relief an income tax deduction, even though such relief is a gift to governments for exclusively public purposes and thus is analogous to a charitable donation. Using the Public Use Microdata Sample of the American Community Survey and the NBER Internet Taxsim calculator, this paper estimates that granting families who enroll their children in private schools an income tax deduction equal to the per-pupil expenditures in their public school district would cost the federal government an average of $7.75 billion per year over the 2006–10 period. This amount is less than 1% of federal income tax revenues. Because private school enrollment, public school expenditures, the likelihood of itemization, and...