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Each year, about a thousand public schools in the US close, displacing hundreds of thousands
of students. I examine the impact of public school closures on displaced students
using linked schooling and labor market data from Texas. Using within-school acrosstime/
cohort variation in exposure to school closures, I implement difference-in-differences
strategies to identify causal effects. I find that school closures decrease test scores, increase
absenteeism, and lead to more disciplinary actions. Furthermore, school closures decrease
high school completion, college attainment, employment, and earnings at ages 25–27. These
impacts are larger for secondary school students and those from economically disadvantaged
backgrounds.
