Private Money in Public Schools: Parent-Teacher Association Fund-Raising and School Finance Equity

• In Event: Papers and Money: How Parental Financial Contributions and Student Legal Status Influence Outcomes

Abstract

The growing capacity for parent fundraising in the nation’s most affluent, white communities provides outsized educational opportunities for relatively advantaged students. However, it is unclear why well-off families would raise supplemental dollars to benefit relatively advantaged schools. This study adopts a social reproduction framework to investigate whether PTA revenues are responsive to state and district attempts to allocate public resources toward students with the greatest need. To that end, the authors built an unprecedented dataset that pairs Internal Revenue Service filings of PTAs and other school-supporting nonprofits matched with their host schools across the country with school finance equity measures. We provide evidence on the extent to which PTA dollars weaken state and district attempts make school finance more equitable.

Authors

• Brittany Chevon Murray, Davidson College

• James Samuel Carter, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill