Ten Thousand Democracies: Politics and Public Opinion in America's School Districts

List of Tables and Figures

Text Tables 3.1 For Nearly Forty Years, Older Citizens Have Been Less Supportive of Educational Spending Than Younger Citizens 39 3.2 Generation Gap Appears in a Wide Range of Local and State Polls 40 3.3 African Americans Support Higher Spending than Whites and Hispanics 43 3.4 Parents Support Higher Spending than Nonparents 44 3.5 Renters Support Higher Spending than Homeowners 45 3.6 Those with Higher Educational Attainment Support Higher Spending Than Those with Less Education 45 3.7 Those With Higher Incomes Support Higher Spending Than Those with Less Income 46 4.1 Independent and the Various Types of Dependent School Districts, Unified (K–12) Districts Only, by Region, 1992 65 4.2 Citizen Budget Powers by Fiscal Independence and Region 70 4.3 In Independent School Districts, Overall Spending Levels Do Not Vary Systematically with the Amount of Citizen Access to the Budget Process 82 5.1 Methods of School Board Selection, by Region, 1987 92 6.1 State Laws Governing Collective Bargaining and State Teachers’ Unions 114 6.2 Expected Impact of State and District Teacher’s Unions on Local District Budgets 117 6.3 Illustration of How the Funding Regime Affects the Relative Efficacy of Local- and State-Level Unions 123 List of Tables and Figures xi xii List of Tables and Figures 7.1 The Percent Feeling Education Spending Is Too Low Actually Increases as Each Cohort Ages 132 Appendix Tables A.3.1 The Impact of Demographic Variables on Spending Preferences 162 A4.1 Dependent School Districts Spend More Than Independent Districts 169 A4.2 The Impact of Public Opinion on Spending Is Higher in Dependent Districts 170 A4.3 In Dependent School Districts, Policy Responsiveness Varies Substantially According to Type of Citizen Access 171 A4.4 In Independent School Districts, Policy Responsiveness Varies Substantially According to Type of Citizen Access 172 A5.1 Descriptive Representation on American School Boards, 1987 and 1992 173 A5.2 Descriptive Representation on American School Boards, 1987 and 1992, Southern and Non-Southern Districts with Less Than 50 Percent Black Population 174 A5.3 The Impact of Public Opinion on Spending Is Higher in Appointed Districts 174 A5.4 The Impact of Public Opinion on Spending Is Higher in Appointed Districts but Depends on Racial Composition and Descriptive Representation 175 A5.5 Policy Responsiveness Depends on Electoral System, Racial Composition, and Descriptive Representation 176 A6.1 Strong Unions Must Have Large Memberships to Increase Per-Pupil Spending 179 A6.2 At the State Level, Union Power Increases Local Per-Pupil Spending, Primarily by Increasing State Government Expenditures for Education 180 A6.3 The Relative Impact of State and Local Unions Depends on the Centrality of the Funding Regime 181 A6.4 Local Public Opinion Neither Explains Away Nor Interacts with Local Union Power 182 List of Tables and Figures xiii A7.1 Effect of Long-Standing and Migrant Elderly on Per-Pupil Instructional Expenditures 183 A7.2 Effect of Long-Standing and Migrant Elderly Depends on Property Tax Reliance 184 A7.3 The Effect of Migrant Elderly Is Partially Offset by Circuit Breakers, but with Substantial Net Reductions in Overall Spending Levels 184 A7.4 Local Public Opinion Neither Explains Away Nor Interacts with the Concentration of Elderly Migrants, but Is Slightly Enhanced by the Presence of Long-Standing Elderly 185 Figures 1.1 Simple and Conditional Models of School Finance 8 2.1 Key Trends in the Evolution of American School Districts, 1939–99 20 2.2 State Funding Regimes: Percent of School District Revenues Raised Locally, 1995 23 2.3 Funding Regimes in Three States: The Relationship between District Per Capita Income and School Revenues Raised Locally, 1995 25 2.4 Per-Pupil Instructional Expenditures by State, 1995 31 3.1 Variation in Public Opinion toward School Spending within and across States, 1995 55 3.2 Local Opinion toward School Spending Has a Strong and Positive Impact on Local Spending Levels 57 3.3 Local Opinion toward School Spending Is a Powerful Predictor of Local Housing Values, After Controlling for Local Median Income 58 4.1 Dependent School Districts Spend More Per Pupil Than Independent School Districts 67 4.2 Policy Responsiveness Is Greater in Dependent School Districts Than in Independent Districts 68 4.3 Policy Responsiveness in Dependent Districts Varies According to Citizen Budget Power 78 4.4 Policy Responsiveness in Independent Districts Varies According to...