State policies affect the qualifications of beginning teachers in numerous ways, including regulating entry requirements, providing incentives for graduate degrees, and subsidizing preparation programs at public universities. In this paper we assess how these policy choices affect student...

This paper examines voluntary contributions to public education via charitable school foundations, booster clubs, parent teacher associations, and parent teacher organizations. We use panel data on school-supporting charities with national coverage from 1995 to 2010, which we geocode and match...

This is the first study to directly examine the relationship between tax increment financing (TIF) and education expenditures, using the state of Iowa as a case study. I find that greater use of TIF is associated with reduced education expenditures. I also find little evidence to support the...

I investigate a possible unintended consequence of Proposition 2½ override behavior -- that it led to increased segregation in school districts in Massachusetts. This can occur because richer, low-minority towns tend to have more successful override votes that attract similar households with...

Strong literacy skills are crucial to ensuring an individual's future educational and economic success. Existing evidence suggests the transition from elementary to middle school is a decisive period for literacy development. In this paper I investigate the impact of extended learning time in...

Do teachers assess same-race students more favorably? This paper uses nationally representative data on teacher assessments of student ability that can be compared with test scores to determine whether teachers give better assessments to same-race students. The data set follows students from...

We examine changes in the use of nontax revenues for education finance from 1991 to 2010. Beyond the summary of usage over time, we ask whether nontraditional revenues like fees accentuate or mitigate the impact of downturns. More generally, we examine the extent to which school districts have...

We consider issues of equality and efficiency in two different school funding systems -- a state-level system in Michigan and a foundation system in Ohio. Unlike Ohio, the Michigan system restricts districts from generating property or income tax revenue to fund operating expenditures. In both...

New York’s School Tax Relief Program, STAR, provides state-funded property tax relief for homeowners. Like a matching grant, STAR changes the price of education, thereby altering the incentives of voters and school officials and leading to unintended consequences. Using data for New York...

Since 2002, public school teachers in Florida have been permitted to choose between a defined benefit (DB) and a defined contribution (DC) retirement plan. We exploit this unique policy environment to study new teachers’ revealed preferences over pension plan structures. Roughly 30...