Data and Code for "School Boards and Education Production: Evidence from Randomized Ballot Order"

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Ying Shi, Syracuse University; John Singleton, University of Rochester

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
processed			12/14/2021 10:15:AM
raw			12/14/2021 10:33:AM

Project Description

Summary: We examine the causal influence of educators elected to the school board on local education production. The key empirical challenge is that school board composition is endogenously determined through the electoral process. To overcome this, we develop a novel research design that leverages California's randomized assignment of the order that candidate names appear on election ballots. We find that an additional educator elected to the school board reduces charter schooling and increases teacher salaries in the school district relative to other board members. We interpret these findings as consistent with educator board members shifting bargaining in favor of teachers' unions.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: school boards; education production; teachers unions; ballot order

JEL Classification:
      D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
      H42 Publicly Provided Private Goods
      H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
      I21 Analysis of Education

Geographic Coverage: California

Universe: Local school boards

Data Type(s): administrative records data; observational data

Methodology

Sampling: Schools boards in California with contested elections for seats over time.

Data Source: Numerous publicly-available education records from California as well as election and ballot order information. Please see paper for full details and citations.

Unit(s) of Observation: School boards (distinct school district-election year combinations)

Geographic Unit: School-grade-years

Related Publications

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-01-26]

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DDI 2.5

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