1. Revenue, Expenditure, and Student Achievement: Examining School Choice and Charter Schools.
- Author
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Enns, Peter K.
- Subjects
- *
CHARTER schools , *ACADEMIC achievement , *SCHOOL choice , *URBAN schools - Abstract
Charter schools are increasingly being heralded as a solution to the dismal education condition of many schools and school districts across the United States. Despite the proliferation of charter schools and their supporters, the school choice debate remains contentious. This paper seeks to advance the school choice debate by shifting the discussion away from whether charter schools are positive or negative, to explaining why research has found evidence that supports both claims. I ask: what explains the variance in student achievement in different charter schools? To answer this question I analyzed data from all charter and traditional schools in the seven largest urban Texas schools districts. The empirical analysis suggests that school expenditure has a positive and significant impact on student achievement. Urban Texas charter schools appear to respond to competitive pressures for increased academic achievement by increasing teacher salaries and hiring more teachers. Contrary to expectations, however, revenue levels do not seem to impact expenditure levels in the charter schools examined. If expenditure helps explain student achievement levels in charter schools, as this analysis suggests, a deeper understanding of expenditure variation is necessary to more effectively predict when charter schools are likely to have positive impacts on student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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