Say Yes to Education Program’s Initial Impacts on Family Choices and Economic Development in Syracuse

• In Event: Resources and Reform: Education Funding and Finance in the States

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of the Say Yes to Education Program on enrollment and housing market trends in Syracuse, New York. Evidence suggests that enrollments in the city schools increased after the start of the program in absolute terms and relative to the surrounding county and similar urban districts. Housing prices in Syracuse continued to increase at a moderate pace after the start of the program while prices in surrounding Onondaga county school districts declined. These differential trends provide some evidence that Say Yes may have helped to buffer Syracuse from the housing market collapse occurring during this period. Similar trends are also apparent, though, in Rochester and Buffalo, suggesting that factors other than Say Yes may be responsible.

Authors

• Robert Bifulco, Syracuse University

• Ross H. Rubenstein, Syracuse University