By Laurel White
A new study from a School of Education faculty member found state fiscal intervention into K-12 school district finances in California during the 2008 financial crisis and recession harmed student outcomes, particularly for Hispanic and Latinx students.
The study, published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, examined more than 700 instances of early fiscal intervention in California between 2009 and 2015 to determine the relationship between such interventions, district finances, and student academic outcomes. In the studied interventions, state policymakers took on an advisory role in managing financially distressed districts’ finances. Unlike a state takeover of a school district, early fiscal intervention is considered to be less severe as it involves state policymakers taking an advisory role, rather than a managing role. However, the study found the interventions led to significant cuts in per-pupil expenditures and harmed student outcomes, particularly in reading and language arts and for Hispanic and Latinx students.
Christopher Saldaña, an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, authored the study. Saldaña says the analysis shows early intervention was leveraged to promote austerity in educational spending. His findings showed, on average, that spending on instruction, student support, and facilities were particularly affected.
“These findings suggest that greater attention should be paid to how local leaders shape district finances in response to fiscal accountability pressures and/or fiscal crisis, and, in particular, how leaders pay attention to how budget cuts impact students who have multiple intersecting identities, such as multilingual learners, students with disabilities, racially minoritized students, and students in poverty,” he said.
Broadly, Saldaña’s research focuses on the relationship between K-12 school finance and educational opportunity, and particularly on the educational experiences of minoritized and marginalized students. Another recent publication offered a price tag for closing educational opportunity gaps in North Carolina.
Earlier this year, he was honored by the Association of Education Finance and Policy with its 2024 Jean Flanigan Outstanding Dissertation Award. He was also recently part of a working group on educational accountability that presented during a Congressional briefing before the U.S. House of Representatives.
Read the full Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis study, “Accountability or Austerity? Examining the Practice of K–12 Early Fiscal Intervention During Periods of Economic Crisis,” here.