We examine the impact of wind energy installation on school district finances and student achievement using data on the timing, location, and capacity of the universe of U.S. installations from 1995 through 2017. Wind energy installation substantially increased district revenues, causing large increases in capital outlays, but only modest…

Public school districts in Texas and policymakers need studies of efficiency in the production of College, Career, and Military Ready graduates to maximize resources in the House Bill 3 funding formula and improve ratings in the Texas public school accountability system. A replication of efficiency studies by Carter (2012) and Thompson (2017), the…

Objective: We investigate whether performance funding--an increasingly prevalent state policy that allocates appropriations based on outcomes that prioritize retention and completion--places minority-serving institutions (MSIs) at a financial disadvantage due to these institutions serving a greater proportion of historically underrepresented…

How to finance higher education remains controversial among policy makers and constituencies across the United States. Texas is not exempt from the controversy. With increasingly strained state finances, institutions of higher education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) have come under pressure to increase performance…

K-12 education resources are often allocated non-strategically, with schools spending time and money on activities that have little relationship to student outcomes. Most of these decisions take place within districts, rooted in the processes of setting schedules, staffing levels, and assignments, and creating final budgets. Local Education…

The purpose of the "District Self-Assessment Tool" is to provide school district and community stakeholders with an approach for assessing district capacity to support a college readiness indicator system and track progress over time. The tool draws on lessons from the collective implementation experiences of the four College Readiness…

This paper explores what happens to similar groups of children educated in different school districts. In this case, the "twins" in the study are groups of students who live in the same state in similar geographies and who share certain demographic characteristics. For this report, "twin districts" have very similar sizes and…

Describes three major expenditure categories and school-level operating costs in eight large Texas districts. Teacher salary costs are the primary determinate of resource differences among schools. An analysis of districts' fiscal and performance data shows that resources directed toward greatest student need are inadequate to overcome poverty…

Test-based accountability systems aim to direct the behavior of educators toward the improvement of student achievement. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act codified accountability as the national educational blueprint, requiring schools to increase test scores incrementally so that all students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Yet,…

The purpose of this topical review is to present Educational Policy Reform Research Institute's (EPRRI's) state-level qualitative findings collected during in depth interviews in the four core study states of California, Maryland, New York, and Texas. The data presented reflect the perspectives of state-level personnel who were involved with the…

In 2007, the Texas Legislature (80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2007) authorized the creation of the Texas Rural Technology (R-Tech) Pilot program, which provides $8 million in funding to support rural districts in implementing technology-based supplemental education programs. In order to be eligible for funding, districts must have…