This study examines how charter school expansion affects special education funding in traditional public school districts (TPSDs) across the United States. Using a continuous difference-in-differences approach with propensity score weighting, I analyze how increases in charter enrollment within a TPSD affect federal and state special education funding per special education student. I find that greater charter enrollment leads to modest but statistically significant declines in federal special education funding, particularly when charter schools are legally designated as independent school districts. This effect seems driven by charters enrolling disproportionately more non-disabled students, shifting TPSD enrollment composition and reducing federal funding allocations. State-level special education funding, by contrast, remains largely unaffected. A survey of education policy researchers finds that while respondents recognize special education enrollment disparities between charters and TPSDs, the financial relationship between the two remains less clear to these experts. Together, these findings suggest that current federal funding formulas may inadequately account for the fiscal consequences of charter growth, leaving TPSDs at risk of financial strain in meeting their special education obligations and signaling the need for policy reforms ensuring equitable, sustainable special education funding across both charter schools and TPSDs.
If media outlets cover "sensational" research, and if studies producing these results have greater p-hacking, then one would find positive correlations between marginal statistical significance and media attention. We code 7,022 estimates from a random sample of 404 NBER working papers and precisely estimate little difference in the distribution of test statistics by media attention. Our estimates differ significantly from forecasts made by 215 economists, most of whom predicted positive correlations. We further find abstract views and downloads are uncorrelated with statistical significance. In exploratory analyses, we document patterns in statistical significance and ChatGPT-generated measures of interest, influence, and convincingness.
School board elections have become an increasingly visible battleground for politically contentious issues, yet little research has examined how candidate political rhetoric translates into governance decisions and student outcomes. Using platform information for over 1,200 candidates across 103 school districts in Texas between 2018 and 2023, I develop an index of political extremism using a large language model that scores candidate platforms across four domains: absolutist language, demonization of opposing groups, claims of existential threat or crisis, and departure from current policy norms. This index reveals meaningful variation across candidates and a general upward trend in politicized rhetoric over the sample period. Ongoing work aims to use a regression discontinuity design to examine the causal effect of electing a candidate with highly politicized views on school governance and student outcomes.
This study investigates whether formal collaboration between schools and law enforcement agencies, through the adoption of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), influences student outcomes in the presence of School Resource Officers (SROs). While SROs are widely implemented in U.S. public schools to promote safety, concerns persist that their involvement in school discipline may contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly for marginalized student groups. Using a difference-in-differences design and panel data from the Civil Rights Data Collection spanning 2013–2022, this paper estimates the effects of state-level MOU requirements on discipline and law enforcement outcomes across racial and ethnic subgroups. Findings suggest that MOU adoption is associated with reductions in both in-school and out-of-school suspensions, especially for Black and Hispanic students, while effects on law enforcement referrals and arrests are limited. These results indicate that clearer role delineation for SROs via legally binding MOUs may mitigate adverse disciplinary outcomes without compromising safety functions. Ongoing work includes text analysis of MOU language to further explore variation in implementation.
The 2021 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) found that 1 in 10 small employer businesses suffered losses from a natural disaster during the prior 12 months. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the United States experienced 20 billion-dollar natural disasters in 2021, making it one of the costliest years in recent history. Major events included Hurricane Ida, the historic cold wave in Texas and other southern states, and the destructive wildfire season in the West. To more deeply explore the impact of these and other natural disasters on small businesses, the SBCS includes a module of natural disaster-related questions for affected firms. This fact sheet outlines some of the major findings from the 2021 SBCS for employer firms with respect to natural disaster impact.
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