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Monitoring Inefficiency in Public Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Yoshie Saito  and
Christopher S. McIntosh
Yoshie Saito
Affiliation:
Department of Accounting, Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Christopher S. McIntosh
Affiliation:
Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Idaho, Idaho Falls, ID
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Abstract

The efficiency of public education is examined using a cost indirect output distance function. Efficiency estimates are obtained using data envelopment analysis applied to data from Georgia public schools. Georgia school districts utilize educational budgets with reasonable efficiency, achieving an overall efficiency of 98% with a range of 93%–100%. If all school districts were 100% efficient, outputs could be expanded 2%. This could be achieved by increasing funding $75.46 million state-wide in total for each of the 3 years. From the consumers' (voters') point of view, this result suggests that inefficiency costs Georgia, on average, a total of $226.38 million from 1994 to 1996.

Keywords

cost-indirect output distance functiondata envelopment analysiseducationefficiencyH72I21I28C60
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , December 2003 , pp. 611 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2003

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