Analysis of the Educational Personnel System

This study addresses the question: How do local public school districts allocate funds among school inputs? Three alternative formulations of the theory of school district expenditure behavior are explored. A modified version of the additive-logarithmic preference function is employed to empirically test the propositions, derived from the theoretical analysis, regarding the relationships between a district's expenditure patterns and its budget level and the set of input prices it faces. In general, it is demonstrated that about 15 to 20 percent of a budget increment would be allocated to elementary teachers; 15 to 20 percent for secondary teachers; 20 to 25 percent for other professionals; 5 percent for administration; 10 percent for nonpersonnel instructional inputs; 1 or 2 percent for health and attendance services; 10 to 15 percent for plant operation and maintenance; and the remainder for pupil transportation. The analysis is based on data from the U.S. Office of Education's Elementary and Secondary General Information Survey on the expenditure and staffing patterns of large school districts in the 1969-1970 school year.