Not-So-Free Markets? The Impact of Educational Privatization and Marketization through School Choice on Attitudes Towards Government Taxation and Spending and on Public Finance (Poster 2)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Saturday 11:45 am
  In Invited Poster Session: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work Poster Session

Abstract

School choice can theoretically improve student outcomes with cost efficiency through competition. But empirical research on school spending is inconclusive, and little rigorous work confirms the conceptual link between “privatization” and increased competition in K-12 education with enthusiasm for public goods and the tax policies they require. We thus investigate Indiana, where in 2011 state policymakers implemented a private school voucher program and expanded the number of charter school authorizers. Analyzing unique information on public school finance, operational inputs, student achievement, and voter tax preferences with difference-in-differences, we find that districts highly exposed to choice decreased expenditures and could not commensurately counteract shrinking revenues through local property tax referenda. Furthermore, short-term achievement gains reversed and became substantially negative over time.

Authors

• Mark Chin, Vanderbilt University

• Arthas Chen, University of Texas at Austin