Title: Spending More on the Poor? A Comprehensive Summary of State-Specific Responses to School Finance Reforms from 1990--2014.
Abstract: Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low-income districts, including both financial and non-financial outcomes. After summarizing the heterogeneity of effects of individual SFRs, we then examine the determinants of this heterogeneity, identifying both economic and legislative/political factors. Taken together, this paper provides a rich description of variation in SFR impacts for multiple outcomes, as well as explanation of this heterogeneity as it relates to contextual factors.