The following is an updated list of studies since 2000 that employed sophisticated statistical methods to analyse the impact of changes in school expenditure on student outcomes. The list is drawn from a new meta-analysis of the studies published by the US National Bureau of Economic Research and a new review of the literature published by the Albert Shanker Institute in the United States.
Abott, C., Kogan, V., Lavertu, S., & Peskowitz, Z. (2020). School district operational spending and student outcomes: Evidence from tax elections in seven states. Journal of Public Economics, 183: 104142. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272720300062
Baker, B. & Knight, D. (2025). Does Money Matter in Education? Albert Shanker Institute, Washington DC. https://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/does-money-matter-in-education
Baron, E. J. (2020). School Spending and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Revenue Limit Elections in Wisconsin. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(1): 1–39. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20200226
Baron, E. J., Hyman, J., & Vasquez, B. (2024). Public school funding, school quality, and adult crime. Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-46. https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/doi/10.1162/rest_a_01452/120877/Public-School-Funding-School-Quality-and-Adult?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Biasi, B. (2019). School Finance Equalization Increases Intergenerational Mobility: Evidence from a Simulated-Instruments Approach. Working Paper No. 25600, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.
Brunner, E., Hyman, J., & Ju, A. (2020). School finance reforms, teachers’ unions, and the allocation of school resources. Review of Economics and Statistics, 102(3): 473-489. https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/102/3/473/96775/School-Finance-Reforms-Teachers-Unions-and-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Candelaria, C. A., & Shores, K. A. (2019). Court-ordered finance reforms in the adequacy era: Heterogeneous causal effects and sensitivity. Education Finance and Policy, 14(1): 31–60. https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article-abstract/14/1/31/10303/Court-Ordered-Finance-Reforms-in-the-Adequacy-Era?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Candelaria, C., Sun, M., Knight, D., Almasi, P., Liu, A., & Kabourek, S. (2023). School finance reform implementation and impacts on resource allocation: A case study of funding formula changes in Washington State. Paper presented at the APPAM Fall Research Conference, Atlanta, GA. https://appam.confex.com/appam/2023/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/48633
Card, D. & Payne, A. A. (2002). School Finance Reform, the Distribution of School Spending, and the Distribution of Student Test Scores. Journal of Public Economics, 83(1): 49-82. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272700001778
Carlson, D. & Lavertu S. (2018). School Improvement Grants in Ohio: Effects on Student Achievement and School Administration, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(3): 287–315. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373718760218#:~:text=The%20results%20indicate%20that%20Ohio’s,year%20after%20SIG%20eligibility%20identification.
Cascio, E. U., Gordon, N., and Reber, S. (2013). Local Responses to Federal Grants: Evidence from the Introduction of Title I in the South. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 5(3): 126-159. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.5.3.126
Clark, M. A. (2003). Education Reform, Redistribution, and Student Achievement: Evidence from the Kentucky Education Reform Act., Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, New Jersey. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/education-reform-redistribution-and-student-achievement-evidence-from-the-kentucky-education-reform-act
Deke, J. (2003). A Study of the Impact of Public School Spending on Postsecondary Educational Attainment Using Statewide School District Refinancing in Kansas. Economics of Education Review, 22(3): 275-284. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775702000250?via%3Dihub
Dewey, D., Fahle, E., Kane, T. J., Reardon, S. F., Staiger, D. O. (2024). Federal pandemic relief and academic recovery. Center for Education Policy and Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. https://www.nber.org/papers/w32897
Downes, T. A. (2004). School Finance Reform and School Quality: Lessons from Vermont. In J. Yinger (ed.) Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/4397/chapter-abstract/188255/School-Finance-Reform-and-School-Quality-Lessons?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Downes, T. A., Zabel, J., & Ansel, D. (2009). Incomplete Grade: Massachusetts Education Reform at 15. Boston, MA. https://massinc.org/research/incomplete-grade/
Fan, Q., & Liang, J. (2020). The effects of California’s school finance reform: Empirical evidence from the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Journal of Education Finance, 46(2): 140-157. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48682023
Figlio, D. N. (2004). Funding and Accountability: Some Conceptual and Technical Issues in State Aid Reform. In J. Yinger (ed.) Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 87-111. https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/4397/chapter-abstract/188245/Funding-and-Accountability-Some-Conceptual-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Gigliotti, P. and Sorensen, L. C. (2018). Educational Resources and Student Achievement: Evidence from the Save Harmless Provision in New York State. Economics of Education Review, 66: 167-182. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775718302012
Gigliotti, P., & Sorensen, L. C. (2022). Illusory effects of performance management: the case of contracts for excellence in New York school districts. Public Management Review, 24(3): 327–349. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14719037.2020.1825779
Goldhaber, D., & Falkan, G. (2024). ESSER and student achievement: Assessing the impacts of the largest one-time federal investment in K12 schools. CALDER Working Paper No. 301-0624. https://caldercenter.org/publications/esser-and-student-achievement-assessing-impacts-largest-one-time-federal-investment
Guryan, J. (2001). Does Money Matter? Estimates from Education Finance Reform in Massachusetts, Working Paper No. 8269. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w8269
Handel, D. V., & Hanushek, E. A. (2024). Contexts of Convenience: Generalizing from Published Evaluations of School Finance Policies. Evaluation Review, 48(3): 461–494. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0193841X241228335
Hyman, J. (2017). Does money matter in the long run? Effects of school spending on educational attainment. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 9(4): 256–280. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20150249
Jackson, C. K., Johnson, R. C., & Persico, C. (2016). The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from School Finance Reforms. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(1): 157-218. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20220279
Jackson, C. K., & Mackevicius, C. L. (2023). What impacts can we expect from school spending policy? Evidence from evaluations in the US. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 16(1): 412-446. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20220279
Jackson, C. K., Wigger, C., & Xiong, H. (2021). Do school spending cuts matter? Evidence from the Great Recession. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13(2), 304-335. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20180674
Johnson, R. (2015). Follow the Money: School Spending from Title I to Adult Earnings. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 1(3): 50-76. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/rsf.2015.1.3.03?seq=1
Johnson, R. (2023). School funding effectiveness: Evidence from California’s local control funding formula. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/school-funding-effectiveness-ca-lcff-report
Johnson, R. C. & Jackson, C. K. (2019). Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11(4): 310-349. Reducing Inequality through Dynamic Complementarity: Evidence from Head Start and Public School Spending – American Economic Association
Johnson, R.,& Tanner, S. (2018). Money and freedom: The impact of California’s school finance reform on academic achievement and the composition of district spending (Getting Down To Facts II). Palo Alto, CA: Policy Analysis for California Education. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-school-finance-reform-brief
Kreisman, D. & Steinberg, M. (2019). The effect of increased funding on student achievement: Evidence from Texas’s small district adjustment. Journal of Public Economics, 176, 118-141. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272719300623?via%3Dihub
Lafortune, J., (2021). Targeted K–12 funding and student outcomes: Evaluating the Local Control Funding Formula (Policy Brief). San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California. https://www.ppic.org/publication/targeted-k-12-funding-and-student-outcomes/
Lafortune, J., Rothstein, J., & Schanzenbach, D. W. (2018). School finance reform and the distribution of student achievement. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(2), 1-26. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20160567
Lee, J. H., & Fuller, B. (2022). Does progressive finance alter school organizations and raise achievement? The case of Los Angeles. Educational Policy, 36(3), 587-623. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0895904820901472
Lee, J., & Fuller, B. (2017). How decentralizing school finance may narrow achievement gaps (working paper). Berkeley, CA: Institute of Human Development. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0895904820901472
Leuven, E., Lindahl, M., Oosterbeek, H., & Webbink, D. (2007). The Effect of Extra Funding for Disadvantaged Pupils on Achievement, Review of Economics and Statistics, 89(4), 721-736. https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/89/4/721/57720/The-Effect-of-Extra-Funding-for-Disadvantaged?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Miller, C. L. (2018). The effect of education spending on student achievement: Evidence from property values and school finance rules. Proceedings. Annual Conference on Taxation and Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the National Tax Association, 111, 1–121. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44682178
Nguyen-Hoang, P. & Yinger, J. (2014). Education Finance Reform, Local Behaviour, and Student Performance in Massachusetts. Journal of Education Finance, 39(4), 297-322. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24459265
Papke, L. E. (2008). The Effects of Changes in Michigan’s School Finance System. Public Finance Review, 36(4): 456-474. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1091142107306287?journalCode=pfrb
Rauscher, E. (2020). Does money matter more in the country? Education funding reductions and achievement in Kansas, 2010–2018. AERA open, 6(4), 2332858420963685. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2332858420963685
Rauscher, E., & Shen, Y. (2022). Variation in the relationship between school spending and achievement: Progressive spending is efficient. American Journal of Sociology, 128(1), 189-223. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/719956
Rauscher, E., Mellon, G., Loeb, S. & Abott, C. (2024). When Money Matters Most: Unpacking the Effectiveness of School Spending, Ed Working Paper No. 24-1016, Annenberg Institute, Brown University, Providence, RI. https://edworkingpapers.com/ai24-1016
Rothstein, J., & Schanzenbach, D. W. (2022). Does money still matter? Attainment and earnings effects of post-1990 school finance reforms. Journal of Labor Economics, 40(S1), S141-S178. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/717934
Roy, J. (2011). Impact of School Finance Reform on Resource Equalization and Academic Performance: Evidence from Michigan. Education Finance and Policy, 6(2), 137-167. https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article/6/2/137/10136/Impact-of-School-Finance-Reform-on-Resource
Weinstein, M. G., Stiefel, L., Schwartz, A. E. & Chalico, L. (2009). Does Title I Increase Spending and Improve Performance? Evidence from New York City. Working Paper 09-09, Institute for Education and Social Policy, New York University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED556781#:~:text=Overall%2C%20the%20results%20indicate%20that,(while%20reducing%20experienced%20teachers)