Network Exploration of Interdistrict School Choice Over Time in a Mandatory Open Enrollment State

Background: Early studies of district-level outcomes of interdistrict school choice policies found changes in how districts interact with one another and changes in districts’ per-pupil expenditures. More recent studies suggest that wider social and political consequences may result from interdistrict choice policies. Purpose: In Colorado, interdistrict school choice participation increased from 4.64% participation in the 2003–2004 fiscal year to almost 10% participation in the 2016–2017 fiscal year, shifting more than $7.79 billion in per-pupil revenue in the process. This suggests a corresponding shift in the social organization of schooling under Colorado’s statewide interdistrict school choice policy. Research Design: Quantitative studies on school choice policies typically examine the factors leading to individual choices when choosing schools or the individual outcomes of those choices. This study takes a different approach to quantitative analysis of school choice by employing separable temporal exponential random graph modeling (STERGM), a network analysis method, to examine patterns of student-enrollment ties that are created between school districts when students enroll outside their district of residence. Conclusions/Recommendations: School district leaders and policy makers should be cognizant of changes to the organization of education and the fiscal impact of those changes—especially given that findings from this study suggest that these changes may be out of their hands. Findings may have indirect impacts on matters such as mill levy and bond evaluations by way of total program formula calculations and may suggest a hidden destabilization of democratic processes, such as losing the interest of voters who send their students to a school in another district.

Pandemic, Economic Crisis and public revenue: the impacts of Complementary Law 173/2020 on personnel costs in the municipalities of the northeastern region of Santa Catarina

In addition to being a sanitary crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an economic crisis in Brazilian society. An obvious consequence of this economic crisis resulting from the pandemic is the fall in public revenue. The reduced consumption of goods and services by families in times of crisis has a negative fiscal impact, which in turn affects government expenditure and investments, leading to even less economic activity. In an attempt to mitigate the effects of the crisis, the Federal Program to Confront the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (Covid-19) was created through Complementary Law 173/2020 to bring relief to municipalities and other subnational entities, but under the imposition of a number of controls on personnel costs. The present study sought to analyze the impact of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic on municipal tax revenues in the northeastern region of Santa Catarina State. The study also evaluated the extent to which Complementary Law 173/2020 helped to sustain the personnel costs of the executive branch of these municipalities. The results of the study showed that there was an average reduction of 4.21% in municipal Current Net Revenues, especially in Joinville, with a reduction of 6.86%, and Campo Alegre (10.51%). The study also showed that Complementary Law 173/2020 helped to sustain personnel costs in the executive branch of the municipalities in question. Personnel costs remained within the maximum and prudential limits set by the Fiscal Responsibility Law. Nevertheless, five municipalities registered an increase in terms of percentages, notably related to the fall in Current Net Revenues during the period under study.

Iran deal's foreign investment impact would be limited

Significance Indirect negotiations with the United States over a mutual return to the 2015 nuclear deal are facing delays while the transition team of President-elect Ibrahim Raisi moves into place. Meanwhile, questions are mounting over the likely impact on foreign investment, even if most sanctions are lifted. Impacts The government will prioritise efforts to invite investment in sectors where it has inadequate access to technology. The government's reported use of frozen assets as central bank borrowing collateral would limit the fiscal impact of their release. If it remains unblocked, the Clubhouse app could increase popular involvement in economic debate.

Policy, Ignorance, and the Will of the People

It is well established that the general population tend to lack in-depth knowledge about key political and policy matters. What are the implications for policymaking? This chapter considers this question in the context of immigration policy, reporting first on a focus group study which offers evidence that reported desires for a reduced number of immigrants might ultimately reflect a desire for immigrants of (perceived) high quality, not a reduction in overall quantity, where quality is defined in terms of fiscal impact. The chapter then argues that public preferences for such “good immigrants” are problematic, deploying a number of counterfactual models that suggest that such preferences are based on mistaken beliefs, and arguing that they thereby likely fail to reflect what the person truly desires. These findings extend beyond immigration policy and serve to highlight the often-overlooked problem that policies implemented with reference to popular sentiments might not capture “the will of the people.”

Police and Fire Pensions in Florida: A Comparison of Conditions After 10 Years

This article is an analysis of 31 defined benefit police and fire pension plans of 20 municipalities in Florida. The authors conducted a similar assessment of these same plans ten years earlier to determine the fiscal impact of these plans due to state mandates that accompany state funding for each of these plans. The current study analyzes key measures of fiscal health over the last ten years for these same plans to ascertain whether the fiscal condition of these plans remained constant, that is, whether underfunded plans continued to be questionably managed and whether well-funded plans continued to be fiscally stable considering economic trends and the lessening of state mandates on the use of state funding for these plans. The findings show that the overwhelming majority of the plans neither significantly changed their financial condition nor their general ranking among the plans evaluated.