No. 20-6 - Estimating the Cost Function of Connecticut Public K–12 Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Facing legal challenges and public pressures, Connecticut needs an objective and rigorous study of its public education costs. The paper estimates the cost function of Connecticut public K–12 education using regression-estimated education costs, then assesses equity and adequacy in state school spending. Large disparities are found across districts in education costs and cost-adjusted spending: higher-cost districts with greater enrollment, higher school-age-child-poverty, and lower property wealth also receive lower cost-adjusted spending.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages59

Reading Time2 h 29 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Education finance legal context in Connecticut

Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant formula background

Motivation for estimating education cost functions

No. 20-6 Estimating the Cost Function of Connecticut Public K–12 Education: Implications for Inequity and Inadequacy in School Spending Bo Zhao Abstract: Facing legal challenges and public pressures, Connecticut needs an objective and rigorous study of its public education costs. This study is the first to estimate the cost function of Connecticut public K–12 education and to evaluate the equity and the adequacy in the state’s school spending based on regression-estimated education costs. It finds large disparities across districts in education costs and cost-adjusted spending. Districts with the largest enrollments, the highest school-age-child-poverty rates, or the least amount of property wealth, on average, have the highest costs and the lowest cost-adjusted spending. A large percentage of the state’s public school students are enrolled in districts where spending is inadequate relative to the predicted cost of achieving a common student performance target, which contributes to student underperformance. Thus, school districts, especially the high-cost ones, need a large amount of additional spending to improve student performance. The research approach used in this paper can be generalized and applied to other states. JEL Classifications: H75, I21, I22, I28 Keywords: cost function, education costs, school spending, equity in education finance, adequacy in education finance Bo Zhao is a senior economist for the New England Public Policy Center in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; his email [is](is Bo.Zhao@bos.frb.org)[ ](is Bo.Zhao@bos.frb.org)[Bo.Zhao@bos.frb.org](is Bo.Zhao@bos.frb.org). The author thanks Jeff Thompson, Rubén Hernández-Murillo, Andrew Reschovsky, the School and State Finance Project, and participants atthe Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department’s Brown Bag Seminar, the annual meeting of the Federal Reserve System Committee on Regional Analysis, and the annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management for helpful comments. Lan Ha provided excellent research assistance. This paper presents preliminary analysis and results intended to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not indicate concurrence by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the principals of the Board of Governors, or the Federal Reserve System. This paper, which may be revised, is available on the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston at [https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper.aspx](https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/research-department-working-paper.aspx). This version: March 2020 [https://doi.org/10.29412/res.wp.2020.06](https://doi.org/10.29412/res.wp.2020.06) I. Introduction A series of high-profile court rulings in recent years has put Connecticut’s education finance under the national spotlight. The Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF)—an umbrella nonprofit organization consisting of municipalities, local boards of education, teachers unions, advocacy groups, parents and grandparents, and public school students—filed a lawsuit in 2005, arguing that the state has failed to provide public school students with the adequate and equitable educational opportunity guaranteed by the state’s constitution. In September 2016, a Connecticut Superior Court judge issued a landmark ruling on the case (CCJEF v. Rell), finding that the distribution of state education aid is irrational and unconstitutional, and requiring the state to make system-wide changes in its education policies. In particular, the judge “told the General Assembly it first had to determine how much money schools actually need to educate children and then must allocate the funds in a way that met that goal.”1 However, in January 2018, the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling with a 4-3 decision and deferred resolution of the issue to the stat

FAQs

What is the main objective of the study on Connecticut’s K–12 education costs?

To estimate the cost function of Connecticut public K–12 education and evaluate how equitable and adequate the state’s school spending is based on regression-estimated education costs.

What does the study find about disparities across districts?

It finds large disparities across districts in education costs and in cost-adjusted spending, with high-cost districts tending to have the highest costs and the lowest cost-adjusted spending.

How might the findings relate to student performance and underperformance?

A large share of students are enrolled in districts where spending is inadequate relative to the predicted cost of achieving a common performance target, which contributes to student underperformance.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob