Is Management Performance a Factor in Municipal Bond Credit Ratings? The Case of Texas School Districts

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
DWIGHT V. DENISON ◽  
WENLI YAN ◽  
ZHIRONG (JERRY) ZHAO
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Municipal Bond ◽  
Management Performance ◽  
Is Management ◽  
Texas School Districts

Abstract--Municipal Bond Credit Ratings: A Suggested Methodology

1974 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Forbes ◽  
Alan Frankle ◽  
Arthur Hierl
Keyword(s):  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Municipal Bond

scholarly journals Municipal Bond Ratings: Are They Worthwhile for Rural Governments?

1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-73
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Credit Ratings ◽  
Municipal Bond ◽  
Bond Ratings ◽  
General Obligation Bonds ◽  
General Obligation

Rural governments in the Northeast purchased credit ratinqs for a high percentage of their general obligation bonds sold in 1977. This paper examines the effect credit ratings had on the interest cost of GO bonds sold by nonmetro governments in the Northeast. The results suggest that the decision to purchase a rating may be a costly error under certain circumstances.

Budget Adjustments in Response to Spending Variances: Evidence of Ratcheting of Local Government Expenditures

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya M. Lee ◽  
Elizabeth Plummer
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Differential Response ◽  
Competitive Environment ◽  
Government Expenditures ◽  
Instructional Expenditures ◽  
Local Government Expenditures ◽  
Texas School Districts

This paper examines the degree to which government administrators incorporate prior year spending variances into current year budgets. Government administrators have incentives to increase their budgets, and constraints on government spending are weaker than those found in the private sector. Therefore, we expect budget increases associated with prior year government overspending (actual exceeds budget) to be larger than decreases associated with underspending of the same amount. This differential response is called ratcheting. We examine budgets for 1,034 Texas school districts (1995 through 2002), and find budget ratcheting in operating expenditures and the subcategories of instructional and non-instructional expenditures. Ratcheting is most pronounced for non-instructional expenditures. We also find that budget ratcheting is more pronounced when controls on government spending are likely to be weaker. Specifically, budget ratcheting is more pronounced for school districts that operate in a less competitive environment and for districts that have less voter influence.

Corrective policy reactions: positive and negative budgetary punctuations

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-115
Author(s):  
Carla M. Flink ◽  
Scott E. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Punctuated Equilibrium ◽  
Equilibrium Theory ◽  
Punctuated Equilibrium Theory ◽  
Texas School Districts ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPunctuated equilibrium theory seeks to explain policy volatility and stability in government attention. In previous research into the temporal dynamics of punctuations, scholars found that punctuations occur in clusters – a recent budgetary punctuation increases the likelihood of a subsequent punctuation. This article examines the direction, positive or negative, of budgetary punctuations over time. Are budgetary punctuations corrective, grouping positive and negative changes? Or, do budgetary punctuations occur in cumulative trends of positive or negative changes? These questions address the heart of the theoretical metaphor for punctuated equilibrium. In an analysis of over 1,000 Texas school districts for nearly a 20-year-period, results support the notion of reactive patterns of budgetary punctuations – positive and negative budgetary punctuations pair up at a rate much higher than expected by chance. The findings demonstrate that even though it is likely to see consecutive positive and negative punctuations, they are not always fully corrective.

High-Stakes Testing: Worth the Price?

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Gordon ◽  
Marianne Reese
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
High Performing Schools ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Depth Data ◽  
Negative Side Effects ◽  
Learning School ◽  
Texas School Districts

The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) is a classic case of the high-stakes test, accompanied by rewards for high performing schools and sanctions for lower performing schools. In this study, over 100 teachers from Texas school districts completed open-ended surveys on how they prepare students for TAAS and the effects of the test on students, teachers, and schools. Twenty of the survey respondents engaged in interviews to gather in-depth data on their perceptions of TAAS. Results provide preliminary indications that, for many schools, high-stakes testing has become the object rather than the measure of teaching and learning, with negative side effects on curriculum, teacher decision making, instruction, student learning, school climate, and teacher and student self-concept and motivation.

scholarly journals Measuring Teacher Buy-in for the Texas Pay-for-Performance Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaehoon Lee ◽  
Michael Strong ◽  
Doug Hamman ◽  
Yifang Zeng
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Pay For Performance ◽  
Test Theory ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Texas School Districts

Teacher buy-in is a critical component for the success of any educational reform, especially one involving evaluation and compensation. We report on an instrument developed to measure teacher buy-in for district-developed designation plans associated with a state pay-for-performance (PFP) program, and teacher responses. We used modern test theory to investigate the instrument’s psychometric properties, a procedure often missing from research reports of self-designed surveys. A sample of 3,001 elementary, middle school, and high school teachers in Texas school districts participated in the survey. Our results suggest satisfactory reliability of the instrument and adequate discriminant validity in measuring distinct but related aspects of teacher buy-in. In addition, we found that teacher support for PFP as instantiated in their particular districts was generally high, but still buy-in levels varied significantly among different teacher groupings, pointing the way for future developers of pay-for-performance schemes to improve or maximize their acceptance.

scholarly journals Small Texas School Districts’ Response to State Funding Reductions

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Nix ◽  
Gary Bigham ◽  
Alana Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
School Districts ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Adjustment Factor ◽  
Bond Elections ◽  
State Economy ◽  
Revenue Enhancement ◽  
Texas School Districts

In response to a challenging state economy, the Texas Legislature implemented the Regular Program Adjustment Factor (RPAF) in 2011, effectively reducing state funding to all Texas school districts. This mixed methods study reveals the effect of the RPAF on a sample of the smallest Texas school districts and their response to decreased state funding – inclusive of reducing staff, implementing tax rollback and bond elections, and securing revenue from other, non-traditional, financing sources, which ultimately served as the largest revenue enhancement – 97 percent of which was comprised of the issuance of capital-related debt.

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