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Study examines relationship between school performance and spending |
from NewsLink, Vol. 3 No. 3, Spring 1999
An analysis of Massachusetts test scores finds there is no relationship between public school spending and student performance. The analysis, performed by Sanjiv Jaggia and Alison Kelly-Hawke, both Associate Professors of Economics at Suffolk University, appears in the current issue of Contemporary Economic Policy, published by Western Economic Association International.
Jaggia and Kelly-Hawke, who are also Resident Scholars of the Beacon Hill Institute, developed an econometric model that they applied to Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test scores for virtually every 4th, 8th and 12th grade student in the Commonwealth. Among their findings:
• Increased education spending per pupil does not improve student performance.
• Student achievement is better in households in which both parents are present. • Family background and the stability of a community are the main factors influencing student performance.
• Regardless of grade level, students in communities with better-educated parents (professionals and managers) perform better on average.
• Smaller class size leads to better student performance only in the early stages of education (primary grades).
The results strongly suggest that higher levels of education spending do not improve student performance. The relationship between student performance and per pupil student expenditures is insignificant for all three grade levels.
The analysis shows in particular that administrative expenditures appear to exert a negative influence on student performance. “Per pupil administration expenditures are negatively related to student performance for all grade levels,” note the authors. “For the 4th and 8th grades, the negative relationship is very strong, with a level of confidence of 99%. Apparently, if public administration expenditures increase then student performance slips.”
The study finds no evidence that parents in poorer, more crime-ridden or less professionally-oriented communities do not care about improving their children's education. Nor does it suggest that single mothers have any less desire to see their children educated well. One possible explanation for the findings may be that since residents of more affluent communities are more likely to be able to afford alternative means of education, the public schools serving those communities must do a better job in order to continue attracting students.
In 1993, the Education Reform Act established a seven-year spending plan to bring all per pupil expenditures in all Massachusetts school districts to a “foundation level of spending.” This new spending aimed to improve student performance. However, recent test scores suggest otherwise. Since Fiscal Year 1993, the Commonwealth has increased spending by 34%. The projected dollars per pupil spent as part of the state's foundation budget for FY 2000 will be $6,463. When the last plan was first enacted, the spending per pupil was $5,557.
In March of this year, the legislature began hearing testimony on how to continue funding public education.
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