The Effect of Passing School Bond Measures on Student Achievement: Morale and Capital Spending

This study investigates the effects of passing school bonds on student test scores. School district bonds in California are used to finance capital projects, with construction being the primary increase in spending. In addition to testing the effect of the added capital spending, it examines test scores in the year of the election, before most spending would commence, to identify morale effects on test scores resulting from the passage of school bond measures. The study finds a significant increase in per-student capital spending during the three years following the approval of a bond measure, which is almost entirely attributed to increased spending on construction. There is no evidence indicating that the increased capital spending for construction benefited student test scores in the long term. However, it identifies an immediate increase in test scores during the year that the bond was passed.