School and district leaders make annual decisions about investing their budgets in a multitude of educational programs. Policy directives set expectations for investing in programs that show evidence of improving student outcomes. However, evaluating many simultaneously-implemented programs under typical school operating conditions is challenging.…

In this forthcoming book chapter, the authors provide an in-depth description of the history and current issues pertaining to public school finance in Washington State, including how recent federal stimulus funding impacted resource levels. The state uses a resource-based funding model, where the amount of funds each school district receives is…

We present an overview of spending adequacy among individual K-12 school districts in the U.S. Our results are from a new database of over 12,000 public school districts that allows users to compare each district's actual per-pupil spending levels to estimates of adequate spending levels--i.e., spending required to achieve the common goal of…

After recent experimental evidence suggesting that private school students using the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) performed worse than their public school peers in math, some legislators discussed cutting the program as a way to reduce state education expenditures in Louisiana, spinning it as a way to save taxpayer money. While cutting the…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all states to report school-level spending data. This fall, the Department of Education released the first round of data on per-pupil expenditure as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). As states continue to release new spending data, it will be possible for a variety of stakeholders to…

This dissertation includes three essays in the field of economics of education. The first essay estimates the effect of top school management on student achievement in America. I use newly-collected data on the tenures of school district superintendents--the highest-ranking executive in U.S. school districts--to estimate the impact of individual…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) continually seeks opportunities to ease administrative burdens on State educational agencies (SEAs) while ensuring strong fiscal and programmatic accountability. This letter grants limited prior approval to SEAs to approve pre-award costs and participant support costs for subgrantees for programs in…

Congestion is a persistent and expensive problem, costing the nation collectively over $300 billion each year. Cities have generally attempted to address congestion using an unoriginal set of expensive strategies, like building new roads or expanding public transit, and many cities are considering implementing congestion pricing. Expanding school…

We estimate the impact of school finance reform on adequate and equitable district spending, school resources and student achievement in Pennsylvania. From the 2008-09 to the 2010-11 school years, amid the Great Recession, Pennsylvania's "Act 61" increased aid to school districts spending below state-determined adequacy targets…

Facing legal challenges and public pressures, Connecticut needs an objective and rigorous study of its public education costs. This study is the first to estimate the cost function of Connecticut public K-12 education and to evaluate the equity and the adequacy in the state's school spending based on regression-estimated education costs. It finds…

Ten years ago, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) shifted K-12 funding in California, directing more dollars to districts with high-need students--English Learner, low-income, and/or foster youth. This policy brief examines concerns over the flexibility LCFF gave districts to spend their money and provides data regarding: (1) how additional…

This study explored the impact of rural school district consolidation in eastern North Carolina. Wilkins County is a low-income, low-performing county with an average daily membership (ADM) of 1,501 students. This county suffers from rural population decline, decreasing ADM, and is categorized as low performing, with only two of the six schools…

This study explored the impact of rural school district consolidation in eastern North Carolina. Wilkins County is a low-income, low-performing county with an average daily membership (ADM) of 1,501 students. This case study reviews the process of consolidation one year after the 2017-2018 consolidation in terms of academic, financial, and…

We use close tax elections to estimate the impact of school district funding increases on operational spending and student outcomes across seven states. Districts with passing levies directed new revenue toward support services and instructor salaries but did not increase teacher staffing levels. These districts eventually realized gains in…

As state leaders consider needed updates to the Commonwealth's school funding formula, they should remember just how well the approach taken by Tom Birmingham, former Massachusetts state Senate president, and co-author of the 1993 Education Reform Act worked. Beginning in 1993, Massachusetts' SAT scores rose for 13 consecutive years. The state's…