Quantifying the Supply Response of Private Schools to Public Policies

School policies that cause a large demand shift between public and private schooling may cause some private schools to enter or exit the market. We study how the policy effects differ under a fixed versus changing market structure in the context of a public school funding reform in New York City. We find evidence of a reduction in private schools in response to the reform. Using a model of demand for and supply of private schooling, we estimate that 20 percent of the reform’s effect on school enrollments came from increased private school exit and reduced private school entry. (JEL H75, I21, I22, I28)

Embracing equitable learning in managing the physical and financial resources in South-African-schools: A social justice perspective

In this article I report on the findings of an empirical study conducted to show the merits of integrating equitable learning by members of the South African School Governing bodies (SGBs) in managing the physical and financial resources. Within the interpretivist paradigm and utilising a qualitative descriptive phenomenological design, the data generation followed the use of an unstructured questionnaire administered to a sample of 30 participants purposefully sampled. Adopting a social justice perspective as the lens, we unpack the necessity of learning equity in the SGB’s dealing of school resources. The study was guided by the following key research question; How can South African schools embrace the learning equity agenda in managing their physical and financial resources? The findings show that adopting such principles of equity in learning as integrating diversity in the equitable deployment of the physical and financial resources goes a long way towards entrenching social justice in managing the resources. The key conclusion was that unless members of the SGBs adopt an equitable mechanism for allocating these resources in the face of competing priorities, real equitable learning remains elusive. The recommendations include the need for adopting policies designed to deal with the complex relationships between concerned stakeholders in the provision of guidelines for public-school funding – most of which come from public budgets.

Property Tax Cap Policy in Indiana and Implications for Public School Funding Equity

The purpose of this research was to examine funding losses experienced by preschool to grade 12 (P–12) public school districts in Indiana, U.S., from an equity standpoint after the implementation of statewide property tax caps. All Indiana public school districts (N = 292) rely on property taxes as a major source of revenue, but districts experienced widely varying losses after the tax reform. Analyses across an array of district characteristics revealed significant relationships between differential funding losses and demographic indicators, including total student enrollment and the percentages of certain minoritized students. Implications for policy and practice include the integration of findings with essential research on funding equity in public education and attention on leadership toward reducing funding disparities.

Segregation Academies Then and School Choice Configurations Today in Deep South States

In the following article, we present a brief historical review of segregation academies and their impact on students and public schools. Based on the review, we provide a portrait of the vestiges of segregation academies that appear to be currently re-emerging in different educational configurations throughout the U.S. and particularly in Deep South states. The purpose of a historical study is to provide a descriptive overview of specific social problems confined within a predetermined timeframe (Danto, 2008). This historical review’s purpose was to address the following inquiry: What were the characteristics of Deep South segregation academies designed to circumvent Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka? In what ways are these characteristics manifested in 2015 school choice configurations in the Deep South states, specifically Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina? To what extent, if any, did these manifested characteristics affect 2015 public school funding in Deep South states?

Racial Taxation

In the United States, it is quite common to lay claim to the benefits of society by appealing to “taxpayer citizenship”--the idea that, as taxpayers, we deserve access to certain social services like a public education. Tracing the genealogy of this concept, this book shows how tax policy and taxpayer identity were built on the foundations of white supremacy and intertwined with ideas of whiteness in civil rights law and constitutional law. From the origins of unequal public school funding after the Civil War and the history of African American families resisting segregated taxation through school desegregation cases from Brown v. Board of Education to San Antonio v. Rodriguez in the 1970s, this study spans over a century of racial injustice, dramatic courtroom clashes, and white supremacist backlash to collective justice claims. Incorporating letters from everyday individuals as well as the private notes of Supreme Court justices as they deliberated, this legal history reveals how the idea of a “taxpayer” identity contributed to the contemporary crises of public education, racial disparity, and income inequality.

A Missed Opportunity

Some critics called the uncapped supplemental payments received by predominately rural West Texas school districts prior to 2009 “windfalls.” The result of this one-sided understanding, and subsequently the complete elimination of such agreements between school districts and companies owning qualifying projects, is a handicap to what could be utilized as a valuable tool in filling the current deficit for public school funding. In 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature appropriated at least $4 billion below what had been the current formula funding level for public education for the 2012-2013 biennium; some estimates had this figure over $5 billion. More recently, in 2013, the 83rd Legislature only returned $3.4 billion to public schools. In a time when funding options are shrinking, why would the Comptroller’s office suggest, and the Legislature pass, caps on incentives that provide additional funding for school districts? This Article will explore the development of public school funding in Texas and the possibility of utilizing the Act as a means of providing additional funding for the public school system while encouraging large-scale capital investment, specifically by renewable energy projects qualifying under Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code.