Working Papers
Credit Crunch in the Classroom: School District Financing Under Liquidity Constraints
Abstract: In this paper, I examine how access to bond market liquidity affects future funding and staffing decisions in the US education system. Using a novel and comprehensive dataset of all municipal bonds issued by U.S. public school districts since 1987, I apply machine learning techniques to identify districts near key credit rating thresholds. Leveraging an RD design, I then estimate the causal impact of diminished credit access across these thresholds. I find that reduced access to bond market credit results in approximately 5% lower spending in the fiscal year following a ratings update. I show that this is primarily driven by decreases in property tax revenue, capital expenditure spending and maintenance staff compensation with the largest effects observed for mid-sized school districts by total revenue.
Teachers Helping Teachers? Peer Effects of Elementary School Faculty on Coworker Performance
Latest Version
Abstract: Teachers influence student achievement, not only through direct instruction but also via between-teacher peer effects which are understudied. Using data from Indiana public elementary schools, I estimate between-teacher spillovers through standardized test score value-added measures by leveraging idiosyncratic employment changes of high- and low-performing teachers. High-quality teachers generate positive spillovers of 0.05–0.15 SD, while low-quality teachers create negative spillovers of 0.05–0.1 SD. These effects are comparable to major education policies like incentive pay programs, highlighting the importance of teacher spillovers in student learning. Understanding these indirect effects is crucial for optimizing teacher workforce policies and improving educational outcomes.
The Free Tuition Laws and Their Impact on Educational Attainment in the 20th Century
(Co-authored with Brianna Felegi - Virginia Tech)
Abstract: Prior to the 1890s many US states required that students pay a small fee to attend high school. Using cross-sectional census data between 1940 and 1960 and a staggered treatmenet difference-in-difference model, we explore how the repeal of high school tuition laws on a state-by-state basis impacted future labor market outcomes. We find small but sigificant increases in educational attainment and in weekly wages of as much as 11% post policy change and concentrated exclusively in white males. We argue that free tuition laws help explain the increase in high school enrollment between 1910 and 1940 and downstream labor market outcomes, but more research is needed to understand the true scope and magnitude of thes laws' impact