The effect of school district structure on education spending

This paper develops a theoretical and empirical model of local spending on education that analyzes the effect of institutional structure on education spending. It attempts to determine whether the theory of bureaucratic behavior is consistent with school district spending decisions by testing the hypothesis that the number of school districts in a county has a negative effect on per pupil expenditures. The results are not consistent with the theory, but indicate that a fragmented school district structure serves to increase expenditures.