Should Finance Formulas Account for Student Mobility? The Independent Effect of Mobility on Child Outcomes

• In Event: Education Policy and Finance Virtual Roundtable

Abstract

We leverage longitudinal data on individual students to explore the independent effect of student mobility on childhood outcomes and then use school district-level data to discuss implications for education finance. Student mobility refers to school changes for reasons other than grade-level promotion and after the start of the school year. We use the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to show that mid-year school moves are a consequential factor in academic outcomes. We then include mid-year school moves in a cost analysis of Colorado district data. Across several specifications, our estimates suggest that a Colorado district with the median mobility rate must spend about 2.3 percent more than the district with the lowest mobility rate.

Authors

• Kieran M. Killeen, University of Vermont
  Presenting Author

• Thomas Downes, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author