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School Closures and Rural Population Decline*.
- Source :
- Rural Sociology; Sep2022, Vol. 87 Issue 3, p960-992, 33p, 8 Charts, 9 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- Since 1998, more than 6,000 public schools have closed in rural U.S. counties. Very little research considers how these school closures impact the future growth (or decline) of rural communities. Given rural schools' importance to parents, local labor markets, and civic life, closures could trigger or reinforce population loss. On the other hand, the configuration of schools may simply be a consequence of population loss and not a cause. This paper tests these hypotheses using records from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and U.S. Census. Employing an instrumental variable analysis that exploits exogenous variation in school district boundaries and a difference‐in‐difference design that groups counties by propensity scores, I find that school closures induce population loss in many—but not all—cases. Specifically, counties with the lowest propensities to close schools experience the largest negative effects on population. This finding suggests that policymakers often overlook potentially important unintended consequences of school consolidation in rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- SCHOOL closings
RURAL schools
COMMUNITIES
SCHOOL districts
PUBLIC schools
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00360112
- Volume :
- 87
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Rural Sociology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 159108489
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12437