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…

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…

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.…

How much does spending vary across US public schools? And how much do the schools that low-income students attend spend compared to schools attended by their more advantaged peers? Students are educated in schools, which are frequently segregated by race and socioeconomic status, and spending can vary across schools within the same district. But…

Motivated by potential financial savings, four-day school weeks have proliferated across the United States in recent years, reaching public schools in 25 states as of 2018. The consequences of the four-day school week for students, schools, and communities are largely unknown. This paper uses district-level panel data from Oklahoma and a…

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.…

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 Great Recession was the most severe economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. Using data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), we describe the patterns of math and English language arts (ELA) achievement for students attending schools in communities differentially affected by recession-induced employment…

The Summary of the Annual Statistical Report of Schools (SASRS) report provides Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and other interested parties the data submitted to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by the Agency of Education. Consequently, data in SASRS are organized according to federal definitions. NCES uses this information to…

Doing more with less is noble in public education. This is something quality public charter schools do well. It is also something, that cash-strapped rural and high need schools across Idaho know all too well themselves. It is well documented that all of public education in Idaho operates on leaner rations than do schools in most parts of the…

California policymakers have established the expectation that all public school students should have access to a broad course of study, in classes where instruction is consistent with the state's content standards. Further, the state holds schools and school districts accountable for their ability to ensure that all students achieve at a specified…

The Summary of the Annual Statistical Report of Schools (SASRS) report provides Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and other interested parties the data submitted to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by the Agency of Education. Consequently, data in SASRS are organized according to federal definitions. NCES uses this information to…

The Summary of the Annual Statistical Report of Schools (SASRS) report provides Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and other interested parties the data submitted to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by the Agency of Education. Consequently, data in SASRS are organized according to federal definitions. NCES uses this information to…

This "First Look" contains national and state totals of revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2013-14. This "First Look" includes revenues by source and expenditures by function and object, including current expenditures per pupil and instructional expenditures per pupil. This…

Illinois confronts a financial crisis that threatens its capacity to implement the state's long-fought-for plan for improving our education system. Two-thirds of our school districts are now deficit-spending. Districts have dismissed at least 6,400 educators and aides, closed schools, lengthened bus routes, and reduced programs in everything from…