Title

The Growth of Local Education Transfers: Explaining How Older Households Have Supported Schools

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

We argue that previous research studying the relationship between a growing elderly population and local support for public education has overlooked a key component to public education finance: redistribution payments made by older households. A fuller accounting of these payments indicates that a growing elderly population might very well prove to be a boon to local public school students not a burden as has been previously suggested. Beginning with a national sample of suburban school districts, this article shows that a higher elderly to student ratio within a district actually increases per-student revenues, even after accounting for the downward pressure that older households place on tax rates. We then explore a specific channel through which elderly households redistribute resources to school-age children: local property taxes. Focusing on Chicago-area suburban school districts, we show that a rise in a community’s elderly to student ratio actually increases the level of per-student property tax redistribution that occurs.

Version

The article available here is an abstract. Please click the link on the right side of the page to access the full-text.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1177/1091142117697422

Publication Title

Public Finance Review

Volume Number

46

Issue Number

6

First Page

1002

Last Page

1023

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS