Parteipolitische Determinanten schulformenspezifischer Bildungsausgaben im Bundesländervergleich

This study investigated the extent to which party politics influences the allocation of education spending across different school types at the level of the German states (Länder). Employing a Bayesian panel data analysis, the findings reveal that the party-political control of the Ministry of Education is decisive for the level of school-type–specific expenditures. Both clientele-related interests, as posited by the party difference theory, and ideological factors seem to play important roles. Parties representing constituencies with relatively low socioeconomic status tend to increase per-pupil expenditure across all school types more than parties representing higher socioeconomic status constituencies. This disparity is most pronounced in elementary schools (~ € 430 per year) and least pronounced in Gymnasiums (~ € 180 per year; Gymnasiums have the highest performance requirements of all secondary school types). As the Abitur (A-level) rate rises and access to higher education becomes more inclusive, parties with weaker socioeconomic constituencies further increase education spending, with the exception of Hauptschule and Realschule (which have the lowest and second highest secondary school performance requirements, respectively). This pattern suggests that sociopolitically left-leaning parties are more likely than their right-leaning counterparts to support a shift from a three-tier to a two-tier school system. In contrast, spending on Gymnasiums remains unaffected by the interaction between party politics and the Abitur rate. This indicates that its existence is largely uncontested across party lines.