Citizens’ Perceptions of the Impact of School Spending Cuts on Educational Quality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Impacts of Finance Policy on Educational Quality

Abstract

Knowing which school spending cuts citizens perceive as having the most impact on educational quality and what factors influence those perceptions is important for designing school budget policies that take into account citizens’ preferences. This study uses Virginia Commonwealth University Poll data and the ordered logistic modeling approach to analyze factors that motivate citizens’ perceptions of the educational impacts of different types of school spending cuts. Results show that citizens perceive cutting instructional materials and extra-curricular activities as more hurtful to educational quality than cutting teachers’ pay or laying-off administrative staff. The results also show that gender, age, income, party identification, and political ideology, all influence citizens’ perceptions of the educational impacts of most forms of school spending cuts.

Author

• Komla Dzigbede, Georgia State University