How management practices, scale economies, competition and politics influence school district performance

School district reform is increasingly being considered as a means to improve outcomes in an education context. However, only a limited number of empirical studies has been dedicated to this topic. We fill this gap in the economics of education literature by analyzing determinants of a well-governed school board, using state-of-the-art techniques, while presenting highly relevant policy implications. In order to achieve these goals, we assess four related research questions: (I) What constitutes a properly functioning board in terms of managerial and organizational practices? (II) What is the optimal size to organize school districts? (III) How do political economy factors influence education funding (at the community level)? (IV) To what extent does inter- and intra-district competition affect school efficiency?

Keywords:Education Economics, School district performance, Optimal school district size, Political Economy, School efficiency

Disciplines:Applied economics, Economic history, Macroeconomics and monetary economics, Microeconomics, Tourism