The Search for Equity in School Finance

Michigan School District Response to a Guaranteed Tax Base

Rolla Edward Park, Stephen J. Carroll

ResearchPublished 1979

Pools time-series, cross-sectional data to estimate school districts' responses to the fiscal incentives implicit in a guaranteed tax base plan introduced in l973. The "price" effect is very small: an elasticity of -.02. A large change in the matching rate — from 0 to 1 — would stimulate additional expenditures of only $12 per pupil in the average district. The Michigan data provide no evidence that state matching grants stimulate district expenditures enough to be a useful policy tool. State block grants likewise exert a very small effect on district expenditures; each dollar of grant money increases expenditures by only 6 cents per pupil on average. However, the results imply that expenditures increase by 32 to 38 percent of the amount of state or federal categorical aid.

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  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 1979
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 38
  • Paperback Price: $20.00
  • Paperback ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-0120-7
  • Document Number: R-2393-NIE/HEW

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RAND Style Manual
Park, Rolla Edward and Stephen J. Carroll, The Search for Equity in School Finance: Michigan School District Response to a Guaranteed Tax Base, RAND Corporation, R-2393-NIE/HEW, 1979. As of September 8, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R2393.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Park, Rolla Edward and Stephen J. Carroll, The Search for Equity in School Finance: Michigan School District Response to a Guaranteed Tax Base. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1979. https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R2393.html. Also available in print form.
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