Lexington Books
Pages: 142
•
Trim: 6½ x 9
978-1-4985-9070-9 • Hardback • June 2020 • $105.00 • (£81.00)
978-1-4985-9072-3 • Paperback • May 2022 • $41.99 • (£35.00)
978-1-4985-9071-6 • eBook • June 2020 • $39.50 • (£30.00)
Nandan K. Jha is assistant professor in the department of political science at Valdosta State University.
Introduction: Political Economy of Public Education Finance: Equity, Political Institutions, and Inter-School District Competition
Chapter 1: Funding Inequity in Public Education: A Chronicle of the Debates
Chapter 2: Government’s Role in Addressing Funding Disparities
Chapter 3: The Ubiquitous School Choice in Public Education and Local Political Leadership in the USA
Chapter 4: A Theoretical Consideration of How School Choice and Political Institutions Affect Funding Inequity
Chapter 5: Empirical Examination of How School Choice and Political Institution Affect Funding Inequity
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Policy Implications
Jha (Valdosta State Univ.) explores issues of equity, liberty, and efficiency within the political context of school districts in the United States. Even though public schools enroll about 90 percent of US students, and 50 percent of funding comes from state governments, 40 percent from local governments, and about 9 percent from the federal government, there is still a lot of variation in per-pupil support across schools. Policy discussions on school funding are influenced by political ideologies around centralization. Jha notes that although spending on schools has grown five-fold within the last century, the growth in staffing has been in administrative and support personnel, while teachers' salaries remain non-competitive when compared to non-teacher salaries. Using an "Extended Tame Leviathan Model" to analyze nationwide school funding, he concludes that interschool and interdistrict competition does not robustly affect school district funding, that the structure of local political control over schooling affects school equity, that older voters might be encouraged to support schooling if convinced that it would lead to higher social security and Medicare revenue, and that it is in the economic interests of inner-city residents to support policy options for equitable public education spending. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.
— Choice Reviews
“Nandan Jha has written an important book for state and local policymakers who seek to develop an equitable public education system. Political Economy of Public Education Finance proposes a relatively low-cost strategy to enhance equity in public education, a strategy that requires institutional reforms. “ — Stephanie Moller, University of North Carolina, Charlotte