- The authors examine within district variations in spending and achievement to analyze the relationship between educational spending and achievement.
- Variation within spending is linked to patterns of racial and class stratification.
- Fewer local resources are allocated to schools with higher proportions of poor and minority students.
- They examine how spending matters and find that investments in classrooms and schools, more generally, matter for students’ engagement.
- Teacher quality is influenced by spending.
- Schools that spend more show higher levels of academic achievement.
- Instructional spending (teachers) and school maintenance spending both positively affect achievement.
- The effects of school maintenance spending are indirect. It matters through its effect on teacher quality, physical conditions, and order/consistency.
- There were no statistically significant bivariate correlations between racial and class composition and either total per-pupil expenditure or instructional per-pupil expenditure.
- As adjusted instructional per-pupil spending increases, so does the percentage of teachers with at least master’s degrees.
- A $1,000 increase in local instructional spending per student leads to from about 6 percent to about 10 percent more students passing the proficiency tests.
- If the lowest-spending schools were locally funded at the level of the highest-spending school, the percentage of students passing the tests could increase 24 percent to 40 percent, depending on the test.
- With regard to the mediators, better physical conditions and a higher degree of order/consistency both promote achievement in all measured subject areas.