The impact of court-ordered school district finance reforms on high school proficiency test scores in New Jersey's Abbott districts

In 1997, the New Jersey State Supreme Court declared the state's system of education funding unconstitutional and ordered the state to provide the poorest school districts—which were deemed the Abbott districts—with per-pupil funding equal to that of wealthy suburban districts. This project seeks to determine how the court mandated reforms are related to educational outcomes of New Jersey's minority students. Specifically, this paper examines whether the increased funding led to more students scoring proficient on the High School Proficiency Assessment for students in Abbott districts as compared to students in districts which did not received increased funding. The results suggest that the Abbott reforms specifically—and increased funding generally—are not linked to improved district-level performance on the High School Proficiency Assessment, which students must pass in order to graduate high school in New Jersey.