School District Consolidation, Student Performance, and Housing Values

The current study first examines the relationship between school district consolidation and student proficiency test scores, then links this result to the ensuing change in house prices. Doubling school enrollment is associated with a 1% drop in student proficiency test passage rates. This drop in school quality translates to a $400 loss in house value. If housing prices fall, the property tax base is likely to fall due to school district consolidation, regardless of whether such mergers reap additional scale economies. One additional contribution to the literature is that school building enrollment seems the least troublesome size measure in consolidation studies