State and local government decisions about how school funding is raised and allocated have profound impacts on American public education, and in recent years, experts have documented large increases in one type of spending in particular: public pensions. Because most data on school district pension expenditures are at the state level, it has so…

I examine whether the impact of the Great Recession on school district spending, the allocation of resources, and student achievement varied depending on the strength of state's teachers' unions. Employing a diff-in-diff-in-diff identification strategy, I find that school districts in states with strong teachers' unions experienced significantly…

This article analyses the Swedish case of the government's funding for equity, which annually provides over 600 million euros to improve equity. Being one of the largest funding schemes ever for work towards educational equity it also provides full autonomy for local education authorities (LEAs) to use the money at their discretion. By studying…

School districts in the United States often borrow on the municipal bond market to pay for capital projects. Districts serving economically disadvantaged communities tend to receive lower credit ratings and pay higher interest rates. To remedy this problem, twenty-four states have established credit enhancement programs that promise to repay…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and examine the autonomous decision-making process and fiscal strategies used by Evidence-Based Funding Tier-One decision-makers. The processes utilized, factors considered, and results achieved were studied retroactively to learn how school districts approach allocation of Evidence-Based…

This dissertation comprises an examination of how school districts have allocated the resources they received as a result of the Illinois Evidenced-Based Funding (EBF) for Student Success law. The law was passed in 2017 with the rationale of providing additional resources to school districts based on evidenced-based approaches, with the vast…

During the Great Recession and in the years that immediately followed, previous research has well-documented that U.S. public school districts receiving larger shares of their funding from state governments experienced larger declines in expenditures per student, as the GR impacted state tax bases more than it impacted local tax bases. Using…

Each year, the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) pulls the school district expenditure data from the Kansas State Department of Education's (KSDE) Data Central site and compiles it in an online tool for members to access. This shows how money is being spent and allows for the comparison of current and past trends to better prepare for…

This paper identifies which investments in school facilities help students and are valued by homeowners. Using novel data on school district bonds, test scores, and house prices for 29 U.S. states and a research design that exploits close elections with staggered timing, we show that increased school capital spending raises test scores and house…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational predictive study is to examine if and to what extent average district total funding and school adequacy predict district performance through student achievement in reading and mathematics in public school districts in the State of Arizona for the fiscal year 2023. The research focused on the…

The Local Control Funding Formula, executed in part through the Local Control and Accountability Plans, allows California school districts to allocate funds based on their needs as identified through goals and action items. This research project sheds light on the extent to which the funds have been utilized in the classroom and at the school…

States diverge widely when it comes to education funding choices, leading to substantial differences in how much states spend on schooling, the role of local versus state revenue sources, and relative differences among districts in funding levels. Prior studies have documented that Democratic party control of state governments appears to be…

Public school districts across California struggle to upkeep and modernize their school facilities. For many districts, aging inventory, coupled with limited capital funding opportunities, has led to school facilities with ballooning deferred maintenance problems and classrooms that do not appropriately support modern instructional practices.…

This report provides a first look at how Illinois school districts' uses of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds were related to their test score outcomes in the years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data on districts' ESSER expenditures as of November 2023, the authors analyze test score trends across…

Previous research showed that the Great Recession of 2007-2008 had negative effects on student test scores. These declines were linked, in part, to the negative effects of states' educational budget cuts or less spending per student. Using individual student test scores, this paper examines whether the level of school quality (as measured by…