Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2013

Publication Title

American Economic Review

Department

Department of Economics

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.

DOI

10.1257/aer.103.3.423

Original 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

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