New Stakes and Standards, Same Ol' Spending? Evidence from New York City High Schools (original) (raw)

In 1996, the New York State Education Department began requiring all graduating high school students (starting with the Class of 1999) to pass rigorous end-of-course (Regents) exams in five subjects. This study explores whether the New York City Department of Education and New York City high schools have responded to these new standards by re-allocating resources, and whether the reallocation patterns systematically differ among high and low graduation rate schools. The analyses draw on a six-year balanced panel of school-level data (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002), constructed from a variety of New York City data sources. We model school-level resources as a function of school and student characteristics, including school graduation rates and school fixed effects. Regression analyses reveal large increases in direct services spending over this time period (1997 to 2002), while the percentage of more experienced and educated teachers fell. We find little evidence, though, of differential patterns across high and low graduation rate schools, with the exception of teacher experience and licensure, which show some evidence of significantly larger increases in schools with lower graduation rates. Non-personnel expenditures also show some evidence of differential spending patterns. The findings suggest that schools may have limited ability to redeploy non-teacher resources in the short-term. While other funds may be re-allocated, these represent a small share of total school resources.