Nelson, Ashlyn Aiko creator Balu, Rekha text xu| 2014 continuing ng p.601-614. This article investigates local government responses to fiscal stress through the lens of the Kﾖ12 public education sector, examining two major policy options available to school districts for managing fiscal hardship: (1) cutting costs, especially through layoffs, and (2) raising revenues locally through voter referenda. The article employs district-level administrative and survey data from California and Indiana to examine whether school districts exhibit features of a rational or natural systemﾗin which their behaviors largely reflect fiscal pressures onlyﾗor whether they exhibit features of an open system in which nonfinancial factors also shape responses. In Indiana, district fiscal characteristics explaindifferences in cost-cutting and revenue-raising behaviors; there is little empirical evidence that school districts exhibit features of an open system. In California, both fiscal and environmental attributes, including poverty characteristics, average student achievement levels, and the enrollment of English learner students, explain school district behaviors. - Repro Economic recession Public administration Local government Public Administration Review 180718