Document Type
Undergraduate Project
Date of Degree Completion
Spring 2019
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Committee Chair
Chad Wassell
Second Committee Member
Dominic Klyve
Third Committee Member
Anne Cubilié
Abstract
How to allocate scarce resources for an optimal outcome is of keen interest to those who set the budgets in public education. Simply throwing money at schools is not enough; it is important that money is spent where it will do the most good. This study considers Washington State public school districts and examines how the share of per-student expenditures in seven budget categories relates to on-time high school graduation rates. It is an investigative study, exploring whether there is enough evidence to merit further, more in-depth research. Using budget and graduation information from academic years 1997-98 through 2016-17 for a representative sample of 63 districts, I estimated several dynamic panel models. From these I identified which budget categories most heavily impact graduation rates, and over what time horizon the impacts are apparent. I found no significant correlation and concluded that this would not be a fruitful avenue for further research.
Recommended Citation
Gadow, Gregory P., "Ample Provision: A Preliminary Study Relating Budget Composition and High School Graduation Rates in Select Washington State Public School Districts" (2019). All Undergraduate Projects. 105.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/undergradproj/105
Included in
Applied Statistics Commons, Business Analytics Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons