Expenditure and Size Efficiencies of Public School Districts

Abstract

In one of the largest studies yet carried out on the subject, the average scores on state-developed and nationally standardized tests of third-, sixth-, and ninth-graders in New Jersey districts were regressed on indexes of district socioeconomic status (SES), per-student expenditures on education, and the size of enrollments in the districts. The numbers of districts entering the analyses, depending on grade level and test, varied from 261 to 507. SES accounted for much of the accountable variance; higher SES districts, of course, achieved more than lower SES districts. When SES was taken into account, higher expenditures were inconsistently and generally insignificantly (probability less than 0. 05) associated with lower test scores; and students m smaller districts generally achieved more than those in larger districts. The inefficiency of expenditures and diseconomies of scale in rinsing achievement are contrary to popular and considerable opinion but corroborate previous research.