This study examines the community consequences of school closure and reuse. Specifically, this dissertation uses parallel mixed methods to contribute to the extant literature on school closure by addressing two gaps in the research: (1) how does school closure impact property values of proximal homes? And (2) how do neighborhood residents experience school closure and reuse over the long run? I examine the first research questions by deploying a two-way fixed effect identification strategy in a hedonic capitalization model to estimate how school closure impacts neighborhood housing prices. I studied the second question using a qualitative retroactive multiple case study method to understand how neighborhood residents experience school closure over time. Used in tandem, quantitative and qualitative methods allow for a deeper understanding of how closure impacts communities. Results of the quantitative inquiry show that school closure resulted in a statistically significant decline in residential property values of about 13%. Additionally, when the school closure effect was allowed to vary for each individual school closure, estimates ranged from a penalty of 3% to 25%—heterogeneity that suggests that some unobserved phenomenon may be moderating the relationship between school closure and housing value. Qualitatively, residents reported experiencing school closure as a deeply emotional issue. Residents were clear that their neighborhood schools played an important role in the community, beyond their formal educational responsibility; the schools acted as social infrastructure where neighbors could meet and build community. When the schools were closed, their roles in their communities were diminished. After closure, the schools were purchased by private companies that made substantial changes to the school properties without consulting neighborhood residents. Residents resisted these changes an never fully internalized that the once public schools were now private property. These qualitative findings suggest that school property reuse is difficult and may be the variable that moderates the heterogeneous relationship between school closure and housing value found in the quantitative study. This dissertation contributes new evidence that schools provide important non-educational benefits to communities and that their removal has meaningful and measurable consequences.
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