Description/Abstract
This study evaluates the fiscal and academic consequences of New York City’s hold harmless policy during COVID-19, which aimed to stabilize school expenditures amid unexpected enrollment declines by restoring schools’ funding up to initial levels. We examine how school racial composition predicts whether or when schools receive hold harmless “treatment” and assess the impact of hold harmless on financial resources, staffing, and student outcomes, exploring heterogeneity by timing of policy announcement. Although schools with higher White student shares were no more likely than those with higher Hispanic or Black shares to receive hold harmless funds, schools with higher Black shares that did receive them saw larger per-pupil allocations due to deeper enrollment losses. Overall, hold harmless schools experienced significant increases in per-pupil spending, and reduced pupil-teacher ratio and class size, while maintaining the size of the teaching workforce. We find hold harmless had no effect on attendance or chronic absenteeism in 2021 or 2022, but improved both in 2023, when it was announced earlier. Although funds often rolled over to later years, we find no corresponding gains in student outcomes. Overall, the policy effectively preserved school-level spending and staffing – as intended – with some improvements in student outcomes when announced early.
Document Type
Working Paper
Date
2-18-2026
Keywords
Hold harmless, school spending, teacher retention, class size
Language
English
Funder(s)
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) of the National Institutes of Health
Funding ID
U01NR020443
Series
Working Papers Series
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the generous support of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) of the National Institutes of Health (award: U01NR020443), which made this research possible. We thank the NYC Department of Education Research and Policy Support Group for providing data and feedback, especially Joshua Smith and Michelle Paladino. We also thank the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, especially Kevin Konty and Sophia Day. We thank Brian Elbel and Meryle Weinstein for their thoughtful comments and feedback. Finally, we thank Courtney Abrams, Katrina Fiacchi, and Candi Patterson for administrative support. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the NYC Department of Education, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, or the National Institutes of Health.
Disciplines
COVID-19 | Education Policy | Finance | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy
ISSN
1525-3066
Recommended Citation
Rothbart, Michah W.; Cervantes, Samantha; and Schwartz, Amy Ellen, "Hold Harmless for Whom? The Impact of COVID Era Policies on School Funding, Teachers, and Students" (2026). Center for Policy Research. 523.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/523
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional Information
CPR Working Paper No. 285