Does School Finance Reform Reduce the Race Gap in School Funding?

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-707
Author(s):  
Michah W. Rothbart
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
School Districts ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
New York State ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
School Finance Litigation ◽  
The Impact

This paper offers new evidence on the impacts of school finance reforms (SFRs) precipitated by school finance litigation, exploring the extent to which the impact of SFR differs by district racial composition. Using difference-in-differences and event study models with a series of district and year (or state-by-year) fixed effects, and a sixteen-year panel of over 10,000 school districts, my analyses exploit variation in funding across school districts, and timing of school finance court orders across states, to estimate the effect of SFR on the distribution of district funding by racial composition. Models include relevant control variables available in national data and results are robust to numerous alternative specifications, including estimating impacts on percent changes in resources (in addition to levels), restricting analyses to districts in SFR states, controlling for additional covariates available in only some years and some states, and adding controls for state-specific time trends. In addition, I estimate changes in New York State to assess whether and to what extent results are sensitive to additional controls for revenue-raising capacity and district costs. Results suggest that SFR can work to alleviate racial funding gaps, though impacts are moderate.

scholarly journals School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Lafortune ◽  
Jesse Rothstein ◽  
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Low Income ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
School Resources ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
School Finance Reform ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Representative Samples

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. (JEL H75, I21, I22, I24, I28)

scholarly journals Forgotten equity: The promise and subsequent dismantling of education finance reform in New York State

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Drew Atchison
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Education Finance ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
York State ◽  
Reform Legislation ◽  
Court Mandated ◽  
Campaign For Fiscal Equity ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the impact of court-ordered finance reform in New York State resulting from Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York on equity of inputs using synthetic controls. The findings herein indicate court mandated education finance reform in New York had little to no impact on equity of educational inputs despite an overhauled education finance system intending to distribute more state funding based on student need. In the period during and following the Great Recession, the State of New York chose to cut districts’ foundation aid, a form of aid designed to be distributed progressively, halting any improvement in equity. Had funding been distributed to districts according to the foundation formula that was specified by the education finance reform legislation passed in 2007, high poverty districts would have received more funding and disparities in funding across districts with similar characteristics would have been reduced. I also show that other forms of aid, which are regressively distributed, could have been cut instead of foundation aid, allowing for more funding to flow to high poverty districts in a time of fiscal constraint.

Understanding the Equity Consequences of School-Finance Reform

1978 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Friedman ◽  
Michael Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Finance Reform ◽  
School Finance Reform ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Before And After ◽  
School Financing ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
The Impact

In this essay, Lee S. Friedman and Michael Wiseman discuss the economic, legal,and logical implications of school-financing methods now practiced in several states, including Illinois, New York, and California. Examining the Serrano case in California, the authors contend that an important inconsistency in the court requirements resulted from the apparent failure of both the courts and the legislatures to specify the logical relationships between several competing concepts of equality. To this end, Friedman and Wiseman provide a logical analysis of several concepts needed to measure the fair distribution of school revenues and resources. Using Illinois as a case study, they then construct empirical tests for each of those concepts both before and after the Hoffman-Fawell reform in school financing. Those data, finally, are used to suggest an analytic framework that can be employed for evaluating and perhaps predicting the impact of school-finance reforms on a wide range of state systems.

Response of School Districts to the New York State Concussion Awareness and Management Act

2014 ◽  
Vol 95 (10) ◽  
pp. e66
Author(s):  
Maria Kajankova ◽  
Jennifer Oswald ◽  
Lauren Terranova ◽  
Anne Felicia Ambrose ◽  
Wayne Gordon
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
School Districts ◽  
New York State ◽  
York State

scholarly journals The impact of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law on spine surgery patient payer-mix status and age

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 694-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas W. Villelli ◽  
Hong Yan ◽  
Jian Zou ◽  
Nicholas M. Barbaro
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
New York ◽  
Health Care Reform ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Spine Surgery ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
New York State ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

OBJECTIVESeveral similarities exist between the Massachusetts health care reform law of 2006 and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The authors’ prior neurosurgical research showed a decrease in uninsured surgeries without a significant change in surgical volume after the Massachusetts reform. An analysis of the payer-mix status and the age of spine surgery patients, before and after the policy, should provide insight into the future impact of the ACA on spine surgery in the US.METHODSUsing the Massachusetts State Inpatient Database and spine ICD-9-CM procedure codes, the authors obtained demographic information on patients undergoing spine surgery between 2001 and 2012. Payer-mix status was assigned as Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, uninsured, or other, which included government-funded programs and workers’ compensation. A comparison of the payer-mix status and patient age, both before and after the policy, was performed. The New York State data were used as a control.RESULTSThe authors analyzed 81,821 spine surgeries performed in Massachusetts and 248,757 in New York. After 2008, there was a decrease in uninsured and private insurance spine surgeries, with a subsequent increase in the Medicare and “other” categories for Massachusetts. Medicaid case numbers did not change. This correlated to an increase in surgeries performed in the age group of patients 65–84 years old, with a decrease in surgeries for those 18–44 years old. New York showed an increase in all insurance categories and all adult age groups.CONCLUSIONSAfter the Massachusetts reform, spine surgery decreased in private insurance and uninsured categories, with the majority of these surgeries transitioning to Medicare. Moreover, individuals who were younger than 65 years did not show an increase in spine surgeries, despite having greater access to health insurance. In a health care system that requires insurance, the decrease in private insurance is primarily due to an increasing elderly population. The Massachusetts model continues to show that this type of policy is not causing extreme shifts in the payer mix, and suggests that spine surgery will continue to thrive in the current US health care system.

scholarly journals An ecological study of food desert prevalence and 4th grade academic achievement in New York State school districts

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth E. Frndak
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
New York ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Ecological Study ◽  
New York State ◽  
Food Deserts ◽  
Food Desert ◽  
Achievement Scores ◽  
York State

<p><em>Background</em>. This ecological study examines the relationship between food desert prevalence and academic achievement at the school district level. <br /><em>Design and methods.</em> Sample included 232 suburban and urban school districts in New York State. Multiple open-source databases were merged to obtain: 4th grade science, English and math scores, school district demographic composition (NYS Report Card), regional socioeconomic indicators (American Community Survey), school district quality (US Common Core of Data), and food desert data (USDA Food Desert Atlas). Multiple regression models assessed the percentage of variation in achievement scores explained by food desert variables, after controlling for additional predictors.<br /><em>Results</em>. The proportion of individuals living in food deserts significantly explained 4th grade achievement scores, after accounting for additional predictors. School districts with higher proportions of individuals living in food desert regions demonstrated lower 4th grade achievement across science, English and math. <em><br />Conclusions</em>. Food deserts appear to be related to academic achievement at the school district level among urban and suburban regions. Further research is needed to better understand how food access is associated with academic achievement at the individual level.</p>

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