Our paper analyzes historical data for New York State on the percentagee of school budget proposals that are defeated each year and panel data that we have collected on budget vote success for indvidual school districts in the state. We find that changes in state aid matter, but not as much as...

Our paper analyzes historical data for New York State on the percentage of school board budget proposals that are defeated each year and panel data that we collected for individual school districts in the state. We find that changes in state aid have little impact on budget vote success....

Given the important role that school district administratorsplay in the educational process, one might expect their"performance" to be of fundamental importance in determining bothhow much students learn and the cost of public education totaxpayers. Yet, while public debate has considered the...