Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from The Great Recession

Abstract

The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors. Wigger and Xiong are grateful for financial support from the US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences through its Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (Grant Award # R305B140042). The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. At least one co-author has disclosed a financial relationship of potential relevance for this research. Further information is available online at http://www.nber.org/papers/w24203.ack NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Schooling During the Great Recession: Patterns of School Spending and Student Achievement Using Population Data

“…Our findings also provide additional evidence to Jackson et al (2018), who examine whether the academic consequences of spending losses are similar to equivalently sized spending gains. Using data from the NAEP, Jackson et al (2018) find that a $1,000 per pupil decline in school spending reduces student achievement by, on average, 0.08 standard deviations. 16 In comparison, Lafortune et al (2018) show that increases in annual per pupil spending of $1,000 following education finance reforms increase student achievement by 0.12 to 0.24 standard deviations.…”

“…16 In comparison, Lafortune et al (2018) show that increases in annual per pupil spending of $1,000 following education finance reforms increase student achievement by 0.12 to 0.24 standard deviations. Jackson et al (2018) suggest that the difference in effect sizes for equivalent spending changes indicate that negative shocks to school spending are not as impactful as positive shocks. Results from our analysis suggest that negative shocks to school spending may be more similar in magnitude (in absolute terms) as positive shocks.…”

“…See also Table 7 from Lafortune et al (2018) and Table 7 from Jackson et al (2018) who find that effects on achievement from shocks to school spending resulting from school finance reforms and the Great Recession, respectively, do not differ between Grades 4 and 8. Though eighth-grade effects are larger in Jackson et al (2018), they are not statistically significantly different. These studies, too, are unable to disambiguate age-specific effect size variation from unobserved variation in within-district/ cross-grade differences in resource allocations.…”

The Economics of International Student and Scholar Mobility: Directions for Research

“…Hira and Gopalaswamy (2019) emphasize the need for reforming skilled immigration policies. However, both studies fail to identify the likely reasons for dependence on international students and talents: (i) cuts in US education budgets (Bound et al, 2016) which has forced universities to depend on international students and even multinationals for education finance and (ii) cuts in advanced placement classes at the pre-university levels, which short-changes many US students (Jackson et al, 2018;Hyman, 2017;Card and Payne, 2002). 15 Furthermore, although Bound et al (2017) found that H-1B visas lead to decline in wages in the US, a result disputed by other studies (Peri et al, 2015;Kerr et al, 2015), it was also found that the lack of preparation of the US students 16 , which results in poor quality, does matter (Richey and Rosburg, 2017;Bound et al 2010).…”

The effect of charter schools on districts’ student composition, costs, and efficiency: The case of New York state

“…On the other hand, advocates have argued that competition created by charter schools can be -a tide that lifts all boats‖ by pushing public schools to increase efficiency (Hoxby, 2003b). Given the financial constraints many school districts faced after the Great Recession (Hull, 2010;Jackson, Wigger, & Xiong, 2018) and the growing number of charter schools (NCES, 2018), the question of how charter schools influence districts' student composition, costs, and efficiency is more salient than ever.…”