Beyond Education Dollars: Does Social Safety Net Spending Affect High School Graduation Rates?

Purpose: To examine the relationship between social safety net (SSN) spending and high school graduation rates for all students, as well as students belonging to minoritized groups. Also, to determine whether public SSN investments and PK-12 education are independent.

Methods: Using Common Core Data and the State-by-State Spending on Kids data, we estimated the effects of per-child SSN spending on graduation rates over time (2010-2016) using two-way fixed effects.

Results: SSN spending positively impacts high school graduation rates, with slightly larger magnitudes for students belonging to minoritized groups. The effects of public investments in SSN health, and PK-12 education on high school graduation rates are independent.

Discussion: Our results indicate that the positive effects of SSN spending on high school graduation rates are independent of any impacts associated with education spending, suggesting that these two types of public investments affect high school graduation through different pathways.