This dissertation examines how the impact of private school choice policy on school district enrollment and expenditure differs by design, specifically in program type (voucher and tax-credit scholarship) and student eligibility (universal, low-income, and failing school). Private school choice has been one of the strongest and most important education reforms in the last several decades. As of 2018, a total of 63 private school choice programs are currently implemented in 30 states. The expansion of such programs from 2010 to 2018 has been especially dramatic, increasing from approximately 70,000 to 466,000 students, and with 13 states starting 38 new private school choice programs. However, policymakers and researchers have paid less attention to revealing trends within school district enrollment and expenditures since private school choice programs were implemented. Considering that private school choice varies by state in terms of program type and student eligibility, an examination of public-school district trends is particularly important because it provides insight into the repercussions of private school choice design. Therefore, this study clarifies the difference in district enrollment and spending patterns after adoption of the school choice policy, representing the treatment effects using the Difference-in-Differences model comparing districts in states with the choice programs to the same measures of districts in states without the programs. Employing a district-year fixed effect with a school district matched sample from panel data spanning 19 years, 1997 through 2015, three conclusions were made. First, any form of private school choice policy has negligible impact on district enrollment but significant impact on per-pupil spending. Second, in terms of the relationship between district enrollment change and policy design, all program types and student eligibilities show a negative relationship with district enrollment change, except for the voucher program type and low-income eligibility. On the other hand, district per-pupil spending has a statistically significant relationship with each program type and student eligibility. The direction and size of effects is generally constant regardless of the model specification. This study aims to fill the literature gap by exploring the association between private school choice design and school district change. It is a good starting point for a systematical investigation of the effects of private school choice design on school district enrollment and spending. For future study, other components and features of the policy and their changes over time need to be considered for estimating the effects of school choice policy. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / 2019 / October 29, 2019. / difference-in-differences, private school choice, program funding type, propensity score matching, school district enrollment and spending, student eligibility / Includes bibliographical references. / Patrice M. Iatarola, Professor Directing Dissertation; Elizabeth M. Jakubowski, University Representative; Carolyn D. Herrington, Committee Member; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_752380 |
| Contributors | Shim, Hyun-Ki (author), Iatarola, Patrice (professor directing dissertation), Jakubowski, Elizabeth M. (university representative), Herrington, Carolyn D. (committee member), Schwartz, Robert A. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (170 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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