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Article Excerpt
Background
In recent years, state courts around the US (e.g., Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, and Texas) have ruled that the standard reliance on local taxes for financing local public schools violates state constitutional requirements for equity in education (Farney 2005). Poor districts, it was reasoned, are unable to generate the necessary taxes to provide a minimally acceptable education, and the courts have ordered state officials to augment local funds with state funding for remediation. These rulings, however, presume that the poor educational outcomes observed for schools located in economically disadvantaged areas result from deficiencies in spending.
Using New York suburban school data, this study assesses whether the court mandated increases in school funding are warranted by analyzing whether student success differentials between public schools are the result of spending or other differences. The analysis also identifies where increased funding should be channeled, e.g., teacher pay, reducing class size or improving school security, to generate the most good. The frame for analysis includes the 84 public school districts located in the two counties contiguous to New York City (NYC), namely Nassau and Westchester. These districts are an ideal frame for analysis because they differ markedly in terms of student success, socioeconomic characteristics and school financing. Two outcomes, namely the high school dropout rate and the college bound rate, are used to gauge school performance.
Literature Review
Previous research has demonstrated a consistent link between high school success, or lack thereof, and differences in family characteristics, including income, native language, ethnicity, and marital structure. Among recent studies, Rumberger and Thomas (2000) found that high levels of poverty, unemployment and community crime increase the high school dropout rate. Grogger (1997) has also shown that the level of local violence negatively affects both the dropout rate and the college attendance rate. Vartanian and Gleason (1999) have demonstrated that endowment differences, including wealth, parental occupations, and marital status, explain differences in the dropout rate, but not the propensity to attend college. Cameron and Heckman (2001) have also shown that family income, parents' education and marital status during the high school years explain all of the observed racial differences in the college attendance rate. Lastly, both Crosnoe et al. (2002) and Conley (2001) have demonstrated that wealth and income differences account for most of the variation in college attendance.
Numerous studies have also found that school characteristics play an important role in determining student achievement in high schools. Hedges et al.'s (1994) meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies demonstrated that smaller class sizes and higher teacher salaries decrease the dropout rate, notwithstanding family background characteristics. Fetler (2001) found that dropouts decrease as the fraction of new teachers decreases and the proportion of teachers with masters degrees increases. Sutton and Soderstrom (1999) have shown that higher teacher pay and smaller class sizes boost grade 10 achievement scores. McNeal (1995) has found that extracurricular programs in athletics and the fine arts decrease the dropout rate, but not academic or vocational clubs. McNeal (1997) has also demonstrated that smaller pupil/teacher ratios diminish dropping out.
Research Design and Data
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