1. Predicting When School ChoicePolicies Will Succeed: The Importance of Funding.
- Author
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Enns, Peter K.
- Subjects
- *
CHARTER schools , *ACADEMIC achievement , *PUBLIC schools , *SCHOOLS - Abstract
Charter schools are increasingly being heralded as a solution to the dismal education condition of many schools and school districts across the United States. Despite the proliferation of charter schools and their supporters, the school choice debate remains contentious. This paper seeks to advance the school choice debate by shifting the discussion away from whether charter schools are positive or negative, to explaining why research has found evidence that supports both claims. I ask: what explains the variance in student achievement in different charter schools? To answer this question I analyzed data from all Texas open enrollment charter schools. The empirical analysis suggests that school expenditure has a moderating effect of student achievement. Increased expenditure predicts increased student performance on Texas Academic Achievement Tests. The model also helps explain variance in school expenditure. Private revenue, such as grants and donations, is shown to be highly correlated with educational expenditure. The data suggest that Texas charter schools with higher private revenue will be able to spend more on education expenses and, as a result, student achievement will be expected to increase. The paper concludes that Texas charter schools may indeed respond to competitive pressures, as the school choice advocates predict. However, funding appears to have a major impact on schools’ abilities to respond to pressures to increase student achievement. If schools are not properly funded, no amount of competitive market-like pressures can produce sufficient academic achievement. This finding has important implications for the school choice debate, as well as for state and local government. The model suggests that Texas school funding levels (when not supplemented by large grants or donations) are not sufficient to allow schools to respond to competitive market-like pressures for increased student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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