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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2013
  5. The Poverty Gap in School Spending Following the Introduction of Title I

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

The Poverty Gap in School Spending Following the Introduction of Title I

  • Elizabeth U. Cascio
  • Sarah Reber
American Economic Review
vol. 103, no. 3, May 2013
(pp. 423–27)
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Abstract

Title I of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act explicitly directed more federal aid for K-12 education to poorer areas for the first time in US history, with a goal of promoting regional convergence in school spending. Using newly collected data, we find some evidence that Title I narrowed the gap in per-pupil school spending between richer and poorer states in the short- to medium-run. However, the program was small relative to then-existing poverty gaps in school spending; even in the absence of crowd-out by local or state governments, the program could have reduced the gap by only 15 percent.

Citation

Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Sarah Reber. 2013. "The Poverty Gap in School Spending Following the Introduction of Title I." American Economic Review, 103 (3): 423–27. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.423

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H52 National Government Expenditures and Education
  • H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy
  • I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
  • I38 Welfare and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs