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School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement

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  • Lafortune, Julien
  • Rothstein, Jesse
  • Whitmore Schanzenbach, Diane

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Lafortune, Julien & Rothstein, Jesse & Whitmore Schanzenbach, Diane, 2016. "School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt9kd0h1cv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt9kd0h1cv
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    1. C. Kirabo Jackson & Rucker C. Johnson & Claudia Persico, 2016. "The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 157-218.
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    Cited by:

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    2. David J. Deming & Christopher R. Walters, 2017. "The Impact of Price Caps and Spending Cuts on U.S. Postsecondary Attainment," NBER Working Papers 23736, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. R. Jisung Park & Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2020. "Heat and Learning," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 306-339, May.
    4. Künn, Steffen & Palacios, Juan, 2024. "Health implications of housing retrofits: Evidence from a population-wide weatherization program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Gregory R. Thorson & Sera M. Gearhart, 2019. "Do Enhanced Funding Policies Targeting Students in Poverty Close Achievement Gaps? Evidence from the American States, 1996–2015," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(3), pages 205-221, September.
    6. Matthew A. Kraft & Manuel Monti-Nussbaum, 2017. "Can Schools Enable Parents to Prevent Summer Learning Loss? A Text-Messaging Field Experiment to Promote Literacy Skills," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 674(1), pages 85-112, November.
    7. Charles M. Payne & Cristina M. Ortiz, 2017. "Doing the Impossible: The Limits of Schooling, the Power of Poverty," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 673(1), pages 32-59, September.
    8. Brian Jacob & Jesse Rothstein, 2016. "The Measurement of Student Ability in Modern Assessment Systems," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 85-108, Summer.
    9. Sungoh Kwon, 2017. "Does Public School Spending Raise Intergenerational Mobility?: Evidence from U.S. School Finance Reforms," Working papers 2017-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    10. Ann Owens & Jennifer Candipan, 2019. "Social and spatial inequalities of educational opportunity: A portrait of schools serving high- and low-income neighbourhoods in US metropolitan areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(15), pages 3178-3197, November.
    11. Künn, Steffen & Palacios, Juan, 2023. "Health Implications of Building Retrofits: Evidence from a Population-Wide Weatherization Program," IZA Discussion Papers 15986, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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