Working Paper: NBER ID: w22011
Authors: Julien LaFortune; Jesse Rothstein; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
Abstract: We study the impact of post-1990 school finance reforms, during the so-called “adequacy” era, on absolute and relative spending and achievement in low-income school districts. Using an event study research design that exploits the apparent randomness of reform timing, we show that reforms lead to sharp, immediate, and sustained increases in spending in low-income school districts. Using representative samples from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, we find that reforms cause increases in the achievement of students in these districts, phasing in gradually over the years following the reform. The implied effect of school resources on educational achievement is large.
Keywords: School finance reform; Student achievement; Education policy
JEL Codes: H73; H75; I22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| SFRs (B51) | educational spending (H52) |
| SFRs (B51) | student achievement (I24) |
| educational spending (H52) | student achievement (I24) |
| SFRs (B51) | absolute and relative funding (I22) |
| absolute and relative funding (I22) | student outcomes (A21) |