Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from the Great Recession

During the Great Recession, national public school per-pupil spending fell by roughly 7 percent and persisted beyond the recovery. The impact of such large and sustained education funding cuts is not well understood. To examine this, first, we document that the recessionary drop in spending coincided with the end of decades-long national growth in both test scores and college-going. Next, we show that this stalled educational progress was particularly pronounced in states that experienced larger recessionary budget cuts for plausibly exogenous reasons. To isolate budget cuts that were unrelated to (i) other ill-effects of the recession or (ii) endogenous state policies, we use states’ historical reliance on state-appropriated funds (which are more sensitive to the business cycle) to fund public schools interacted with the timing of the recession as instruments for reductions in school spending. Cohorts exposed to these spending cuts had lower test scores and lower college-going rates. The spending cuts led to larger test score gaps by income and race. (JEL E32, H52, H75, I21, I28, J15)

Bos Funds Allocation For Pilot Schools: Study On SDIT Bina Insan Qur'ani Cibatu-Garut

Educational actors are still confused in setting funding priorities for the development of pilot schools. This paper is intended to understand the priority allocation of pilot school funding originating from BOS funds. This research uses a qualitative method with an action research approach. The theory used is the concept of allocation and budgeting from Nanang Fattah. The problem that arises is what kind of financing sector gets more budgeting in pilot schools. From the findings in the field, it was found that the largest portion of the allocation of BOS funds for three years was in the funding of salaries for teachers and education staff. The budget design of SDIT Bina Insan Qur'ani uses a model of budgeting by line item. However, every year there is a change in the budgeting format. This was done to simplify school spending.

Washington View: Education + Money = Freedom

The COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn has made the persistent inequities in the U.S. education system even more evident than before. In her monthly Kappan column, Maria Ferguson discusses how approaches to school spending have failed to respond adequately and fairly to economic conditions. On top of the differences in funding is the phenomenon of wealthy parents spending their money to find ways out of the system by, for example, creating pandemic pods that enable their children to have in-person learning opportunities that aren’t likely to be available for poorer children. Examples like this may look like “education freedom,” but it’s freedom only available for a few.