Do Local Politics Influence Student Outcomes in Public Education?

Do local politics influence student outcomes in public education? This paper derives amodel of resource allocation for public education in municipal contexts and assesses howinformal institutions between local politicians and bureaucrats influence studentachievement in public education. Using original survey data collected in schools across12 wards of Bangalore, India in the fall of 2007, I present and test a model of decisionmakingfor allocating resources to public education that accounts specifically for howinformal institutions between locally elected politicians and bureaucratic officialsinfluence student outcomes in public education. Results suggest that positiverelationships between bureaucrats and politicians have a positive and significantinfluence on student achievement in math and language scores. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]