Equity and Accountability: The Impact of State Accountability Systems on School Finance

Abstract

Using an 11-year panel data set containing information on revenues, expenditures, and demographics for every school district in the United States, we examine the effects of state-adopted school accountability systems on the adequacy and equity of school resources. We find little relationship between state implementation of accountability systems and changes in school finance equity, though we do find evidence that states in which courts overturned the school finance system during the decade exhibited significant equity improvements. Additionally, while implementation of accountability per se does not appear linked to changes in resource adequacy, states that implemented strong accountability systems did experience improvements.

Education outlay, fiscal transfers and interregional funding equity: A county-level analysis of education finance in China

“…Successful litigation reduced inequality by requiring increased spending in the poorest districts while leaving spending in the richest districts unchanged, thereby increasing aggregate spending on education. Rubenstein et al (2008) use an 11-year panel dataset containing information on revenue, expenditure and demographics for every school district in the United States; they examine the effects of state-adopted school accountability systems on the adequacy and equity of school resources. They find little relationship between state implementation of accountability systems and changes in school finance equity, although they do find evidence that states in which courts overturned the school finance system during the decade of their study exhibited significant equity improvements.…”