Abstract

This thesis hypothesizes that the state of Ohio education finance system does not provide sufficient education grant money to local school districts to fill the gap between expenditure need and local revenue-raising capacity. Theories of fiscal capacity and intergovernmental grants explain how miscalculation of education costs causes the state government to underfund public schools. In order to test the hypothesis empirically, a regression model is tested using panel data for 606 Ohio public school districts for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012. This model shows the effects of revenue-raising capacity, expenditure need, and other control variables on the amount of grant money distributed to each district by the state government. The results from the regression analysis provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of this thesis, and have significant policy implications for the Ohio education system.

Advisor

Burnell, Barbara

Second Advisor

Burnell, James

Department

Economics

Publication Date

2014

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2014 Eric Petry