The Influence of Finance Policies on Charter School Supply Decisions in Five States
Corresponding Author
Christian Buerger
Christian Buerger, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana, IN, 801 W. Michigan Street, BS 4168, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, United States. He can be reached at cbuerge@iupui.edu.
He can be reached at cbuerge@iupui.edu
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Christian Buerger
Christian Buerger, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indiana, IN, 801 W. Michigan Street, BS 4168, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, United States. He can be reached at cbuerge@iupui.edu.
He can be reached at cbuerge@iupui.edu
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
This paper tests if charter school finance policies influence charter school location. I create a theoretical framework describing the location incentives created by charter school finance provisions and test their relevance empirically by applying a two-step approach consisting of negative binomial models and Wald tests. Using data from New York, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio, I provide evidence that states’ finance provisions are an important policy lever impacting charter school location. Several robustness checks corroborate the initial results.
REFERENCES
- Argyris, Chris and Donald A. Schon. 1978. Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
- Arsen, David and Yongmei Ni. 2011. “The Effects of Charter School Competition on School District Resource Allocation.” Educational Administration Quarterly. 48 (1): 3–38.
- Baker, Bruce D., Ken Libby and Kathryn Wiley. 2015. “Charter School Expansion and Within-District Equity: Confluence or Conflict?” Education Finance and Policy. 10 (3): 423–465.
- Batdorf, Meagan, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May, Sheree T. Speakman, Patrick J. Wolf and Albert Cheng. 2014. “Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands.” School Choice Demonstration Project. 7. [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=scdp.
- Bifulco, Robert. 2014. “ Charter School Location: Evidence and Policy Implications.” In Education, Land and Location, edited by Gregory K. Ingram, and Daphne A. Kenyon. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute Press.
- Bifulco, Robert and Christian Buerger. 2015. “The Influence of Finance and Accountability Policies on Location of New York State Charter Schools.” Journal of Education Finance. 40 (3): 193–221.
- Bifulco, Robert and Katrina Bulkley. 2012. “ Charter Schools.” In Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, edited by Helen F. Ladd, and Edward B. Fiske, 425–446. Routledge.
- Bifulco, Robert and Randall Reback. 2014. “Fiscal Impacts of Charter Schools: Lessons from New York.” Education Finance and Policy. 9 (1): 86–107.
- Brown, Heath, Henig Jeffrey, Lacireno-Paquet Natalie and Thomas T. Holyoke. 2004. “Scale of Operations and Locus of Control in Market-versus Mission-oriented Charter Schools.” Social Science Quarterly. 85 (5): 1035–1051.
- Brunner, Eric J., Sung-Whoo Cho and Randall Reback. 2012. “Mobility, Housing Markets, and Schools: Estimating the Effects of Inter-district Choice Programs.” Journal of Public Economics. 96 (7-8): 604–614.
- Bruno, Paul. 2019. “Charter Competition and District Finances: Evidence from California.” Journal of Education Finance. 44 (4): 361–384.
- Bulkley, Katrina and Jennifer Fisler. 2003. “A Decade of Charter Schools: From Theory to Practice.” Educational Policy. 17 (3): 317–342.
- Buerger, Christian and Robert Bifulco. 2019. “The Effect of Charter Schools on Districts’ Student Composition, Costs, and Efficiency: The Case of New York State.” Economics of Education Review. 69 (1): 61–72.
- Buerger, Christian and Douglas N. Harris. 2017. “How Did the New Orleans School Reforms Influence School Spending?” [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://educationresearchalliancenola.org/files/publications/020717-Buerger-Harris-How-Did-the-New-Orleans-School-Reforms-Influence-School-Spending.pdf.
- Cameron, A. Colin and Pravin K. Trivedi. 2005. Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511811241 Google Scholar
- Chubb, John E. and Terry M. Moe. 1990. Politics, Markets, and America's Schools. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
- Charter School Law S 2852 (2). https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EDN/2852
- Community School Legislative History. 2018. https://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Community-Schools/Annual-Reports-on-Ohio-Community-Schools/2017-Community-School-Legislative-History.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US
- Cook, Jason B. 2018. “The Effect of Charter Competition on Unionized District Revenues and Resource Allocation.” Journal of Public Economics. 158: 48–62.
- DC Public Charter Schools. 2018. “DC Public Charter Schools Serve Higher Percentages of At-Risk Students and High Needs Special Education Students than DC's Traditional Public Schools.” [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://dcpcsb.org/dc-public-charter-schools-serve-higher-percentages-risk-students-and-high-needs-special-education.
- DeVos, Betsy N. 2018. “Prepared Remarks by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to the American Enterprise Institute.” [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-us-education-secretary-betsy-devos-american-enterprise-institute
- Downes, Thomas A. and Shane M. Greenstein. 1996. “Understanding the Supply Decisions of Nonprofits: Modelling the Location of Private Schools.” RAND Journal of Economics. 27 (2): 365–390.
- Duncombe, William and John Yinger. 2005. “How Much More Does a Disadvantaged Student Cost?” Economics of Education Review. 24 (5): 513–532.
- Duncombe, W. and Yinger, J. 2011. “Are education cost functions ready for prime time? An examination of their validity and reliability.” Peabody Journal of Education. 86 (1): 28–57.
10.1080/0161956X.2011.539954 Google Scholar
- Eberts, Randall W. and Timothy J. Gronberg. 1981. “Jurisdictional Homogeneity and the Tiebout Hypothesis.” Journal of Urban Economics. 10 (2): 227–239.
- Epple, Dennis, Richard Romano and Ron Zimmer. 2016. “ Charter Schools: A Survey of Research on Their Characteristics and Effectiveness.” In Handbook of the Economics of Education, edited by Eric A. Hanushek, Stephen Machin, and Ludger Woessmann, 139–208, 5. Elsevier.
- Ferreyra, Maria Marta and Grigory Kosenok. 2018. “Charter School Entry and School Choice: The Case of Washington, D.C.” Journal of Public Economics. 159 (March): 160–182.
- Florida Statutes Title XLVIII Chapter 1002.33 (17). http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1002/Sections/1002.33.html
- Greene, William H. 2012. Econometric Analysis, Seventh Edition. Boston: Pearson.
- Gronberg, Timothy J., Dennis W. Jansen and Lori L. Taylor. 2012. “The Relative Efficiency of Charter Schools: A Cost Frontier Approach.” Economics of Education Review. 31 (2): 302–317.
- Gronberg, Timothy J., Dennis W. Jansen and Lori L. Taylor. 2017. “Are Charters the Best Alternative? A Cost Frontier Analysis of Alternative Education Campuses in Texas.” Southern Economic Journal. 83 (3): 721–743.
- Glomm, Gerhard, Douglas N. Harris and Te-Fen Lo. 2005. “Charter School Location.” Economics of Education Review. 24 (4): 451–457.
- G.S. 115C-238.29H. https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_115C/GS_115C-238.29H.html
- Gyourko, Joseph. 2009. “Understanding Commercial Real Estate: How Different from Housing Is It?” Journal of Portfolio Management. 35 (5): 23–37.
- Hanushek, Eric A., Susanne Link and Ludger Woessmann. 2013. “Does School Autonomy Make Sense Everywhere? Panel Estimates from PISA.” Journal of Development Economics. 104: 212–232.
- Henig, Jeffrey R. and Jason A. MacDonald. 2002. “Locational Decisions of Charter Schools: Probing the Market Metaphor.” Social Science Quarterly. 83 (4): 962–980.
- Hoxby, Caroline Minter. 1996. “How Teachers’ Unions Affect Education Production.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 111 (3): 671–718.
- Hoxby, Caroline Minter. 2003a. “ School Choice and School Productivity. Could School Choice be a Tide that Lifts all Boats?” In The Economics of School Choice, edited by Caroline M. Hoxby, 287–342. University of Chicago Press.
10.7208/chicago/9780226355344.003.0009 Google Scholar
- Hoxby, Caroline Minter. 2003b. “School Choice and School Competition: Evidence from the United States.” Swedish Economic Policy Review. 10: 67–76.
- Jones, Peter A. 2018. “The Influence of Charter School Competition on Public School District Revenues across the US.” Journal of Education Finance. 43 (4): 327–359.
- Judge, G. G., R. C. Hill, W. E. Griffiths, H. Lütkepohl and T. C. Lee 1988. Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Econometrics. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
10.2307/2290184 Google Scholar
- Kendall, Maurice G. 1938. “A new measure of rank correlation.” Biometrika. 30 (1/2): 81–93.
10.2307/2332226 Google Scholar
- Kolderie, Ted. 1990. “Beyond Choice to New Public Schools: Withdrawing the Exclusive Franchise in Public Education.” Policy Report No. 8. Progressive Policy Inst.,Washington, DC.
- Levitt, Barbara and James G. March. 1988. “Organizational Learning.” Annual Review of Sociology. 14 (1): 319–38.
- Michigan Department of Education. 2015. “Section 31a Questions and Answers.” [accessed May 4, 2020]. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Section_31a_QA_9-18-15_502171_7.pdf
- Michigan Department of Education. 2019. “State of Michigan Funds.” Updated October 3, 2019 [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/EL_Specific_Funding_Sources_Guidance_665234_7.docx
- Molnar, Alex, Walter C. Farrell, James H. Johnson and Marty Sapp. 1996. “Research, Politics, and the School Choice Agenda.” Phi Delta Kappan. 78 (3): 240–244.
- Nathan, Joe. 1996. “Early Lessons of the Charter School Movement.” Educational Leadership. 54: 16–20.
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2016. “Fast Facts. Charter schools.” Washington D.C. [accessed 5/4/2020]. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30
- Nechyba, Thomas. 2003. “School Finance, Spatial Income Segregation, and the Nature of Communities.” Journal of Urban Economics. 54 (1): 61–88.
- Ni, Yongmei. 2009. “The Impact of Charter Schools on the Efficiency of Traditional Public Schools: Evidence from Michigan.” Economics of Education Review. 28 (5): 571–84.
- Ohio Department of Education. 2013. “Community Schools Funding.” [accessed 5/4/2020]. http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Finance-and-Funding/School-Payment-Reports/State-Funding-For-Schools/Community-School-Funding
- Ohio Department of Education FY 2014 Community School Deductions. 2014. https://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Finance-and-Funding/School-Payment-Reports/State-Funding-For-Schools/Community-School-Funding/FY-2014-Community-School-Deductions
- Ouchi, William G. 2008. Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need. New York: Simon and Schuster.
- Roback, Jennifer. 1982. “Wages, Rents and the Quality of Life.” Journal of Political Economy. 90 (4): 1257–1278.
- Section 380.503 (2). http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(plyg24u55f4wdiomy2ovpnk1))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-380-503
- Stewart, Jay 2013. “Tobit or Not Tobit?” Journal of Economic and Social Measurement. 38 (3): 263–290.
10.3233/JEM-130376 Google Scholar
- Stoddard, Christiana and Sean P. Corcoran. 2007. “The Political Economy of School Choice: Support for Charter Schools Across States and School Districts.” Journal of Urban Economics. 62 (1): 27–54.
- Singleton, John D. 2019. “Incentives and the Supply of Effective Charter Schools.” American Economic Review. 109 (7): 2568–2612.
- Taylor, Lori L. and William J. Fowler, Jr. 2006. “A Comparable Wage Approach to Geographic Cost Adjustment. Research and Development Report.” National Center for Education Statistics. NCES-2006-321.
- Verstegen, D. 2015. A 50 State Survey of School Finance Policies. https://schoolfinancesdav.wordpress.com/
- Welsch, David M. 2011. “Charter School Competition and Its Impact on Employment Spending in Michigan's Public Schools.” Contemporary Economic Policy. 29 (3): 323–336.
- Winters, Marcus A. 2012. “Measuring the Effect of Charter Schools on Public School Student Achievement in an Urban Environment: Evidence from New York City.” Economics of Education review. 31 (2): 293–301.
- Zimmer, Ron, Buddin, Richard R., Smith, Sarah A. and Duffy, Danielle. 2020. “Nearly Three Decades into the Charter School Movement, What Has Research Told Us about Charter Schools?” EdWorkingPaper: 19-156. Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai19-156.pdf