RECENT CLINTON URBAN-EDUCATION INITIATIVES AND THE ROLE OF SCHOOL QUALITY IN METROPOLITAN FINANCE

Recent Administration proposals would expand federal support of local public education, especially for urban schools that serve students fro m poor families. These education initiatives include subsidizing the h iring of more teachers to lower class sizes in the early grades, encou raging of grade retention as an important feature of local accountabil ity requirements, and providing greater federal subsidies of borrowing by schools to finance construction projects. After describing these i nitiatives and discussing what is known or not known about their likel y effects, I turn to the local public finance literature to examine th e empirical importance of school quality in metropolitan location deci sions.