1. A reassessment of the social
and economic impact of
schools on rural communities
John Sipple, Sutee Anantsuksomsri,
Nij Tontisirin, Joe D. Francis - Program in Applied
Demographics
Presented at the 2013 Federal Reserve System Research
Conference, Washington, D.C. April 11, 2013
2. Introduction
• View that schools in rural communities are central to
community vitality (e.g., the hub of community life).
• School district consolidation and school closure are
often proposed to relieve fiscal stress (reduce tax
burden & enhancing educational opportunity).
• It is unclear to what extent schools play in the social
and economic vitality of rural communities.
3. Introduction
• Lyson (2002) showed that the presence of schools
provide significant social and economic benefits to
rural communities.
• Lyson’s Findings:
– In smallest rural communities, the presence of a school is
associated with higher housing values
– Higher per capita income from self-employment is found
in communities with schools
– Higher proportion of workers in communities with school
are employed within their villages
4. This Study
• This paper revisits Lyson’s hypothesis by employing
2000 & 2010 Census and geoinformatic analysis of
school locations in New York State.
• Like Lyson, we focus on rural villages (i.e.
incorporated villages with population 2,500 or less)
• These rural villages are further categorized by
presence or absence of public schools
5. Data & Methodology
• Data are primarily drawn from two databases:
1. Census data
• 2000 Census (short form & long form)
• 2010 Census (decennial & ACS)
• Census geography TIGER/Line® shapefile: rural incorporated villages in
New York State (NYS) of both 2000 & 2010 Census
2. Public school directory from NYS Department of Education
(2010) and Cornell Program on Applied Demographics (2000)
• Key variables include:
– population characteristics
– housing characteristics
– income and welfare
– occupational and employment characteristics
6. Population 500 or less
Population 501 to 2,500
Population 2,500+ (urban)
2010 Places
Total: 1,189
73 66
272 245
2000 2010
exclude 32 outliers (based on village’s median house value)
705 846
10. Regressions
HH Inc
2000
HH Inc
2010
PerCap Inc
2000
PerCap Inc
2010
H Value
2000
H Value
2010
Large + +
School +
School X Size -
<39 - - - - - -
W Child + + + + + +
% White - - - - -
White collar + + + + + +
Self Employ + + + + + +
No Commute
R2 .79 .60 .73 .57 .71 .51
11. Discussions & Conclusions
• We find more nuanced relationships between the
presence of schools and community vitality
– Stabilizing/Constraining impact of schools
– Once controlling for other factors, the presence of schools only
impacts HH Income (less so for large).
– Once controlling for other factors, larger villages are more prosperous
• Further studies
– panel analysis (1990-2010)
– Does distance from village center to school matter.
