Abstract
Who gets to decide what textbooks are used in America's public-school classrooms varies by state. States can let each school district decide, provide standards that must be followed and make available an incomplete listing of books meeting those standards, or allow schools to choose books only from a list provided by the state. I present a model that provides an explanation for state limits on textbook selection by school districts. I examine the roles played by decision making costs, effectiveness of voters, religious composition, power of teachers, and propensity of state governments to interfere with or to help districts in textbook selection policies at the state level. There has been virtually no research on this topic. My findings corroborate the extant literature that addresses interference by state governments in local affairs and extend the morality politics literature by finding a strong link between religious fundamentalism and state-level policies. I also find that state book lists are less likely (1) in more educated states, where voters are better able to select the most appropriate textbook, (2) in states with smaller school districts, where voters are more involved in the schools, and (3) in states with stronger teacher unions, giving teachers more power in textbook selection. © 2013 Springer Science + Business Media New York.
Recommended Citation
Phillips, M. (2014). State Involvement in Limiting Textbook Choice by School Districts. Public Choice, 160(1 thru 2), pp. 181-203. Springer.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0075-9
Department(s)
Economics
Keywords and Phrases
Bureaucracy; Educational attainment; Fundamentalist; Government; Textbook
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0048-5829
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2014
