ESSAYS ON THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION FINANCE AND MOBILITY

Abstract

This dissertation is an exploration of education finance. Most notably the passage of education financing bonds as well as the effects of the school construction that comes from the passage of education bonds. Chapter 1 explores the effect of elderly voting populations on the probability of passing a bond vote to improve school infrastructure. The addition to the literature is the inclusion of a measure of the community connection in the elderly community by including data regarding recent movers into the county within the last year. This inclusion separates the elderly community and shows that school districts with a large number of recent movers are more likely to not pass a school bond. Chapter 2 examines the effect of opening a new school campus on the students who are not able to attend the new school. Using a regression discontinuity design employing school bond votes and an event study analysis using school openings. The results show a small increase in testing results for students that stay, as well as a large positive effect on the lowest performing students and a large negative effect on the highest performing students who remain at existing schools. Chapter 3 attempts to determine the likelihood that the effect on student achievement of opening a new school comes from the increased mobility of quality teachers due to the opening of a new campus. The results show that there is a larger probability of experienced teachers changing position after a new school opens and therefore it is possible that any positive or negative effect on student achievement of opening a new school comes from increased teacher mobility.