Childhood Obesity, Academic Achievement, and School Expenditures Tami Gurley-Calvez 1 and Amy Higginbotham 1 Abstract The authors examine whether childhood obesity affects student achievement and whether these effects differ by family income level. Although childhood obesity is a national concern, the issue is even more urgent in West Virginia where obesity rates for fifth graders are near 30 percent. Using a 2003– 2007 panel of school district data, the authors find evidence that obesity negatively affects reading proficiency in high poverty districts, but obesity rates have little effect in lower poverty districts. The authors estimate that it would require a substantial increase in instructional education spending to offset the obesity effects on academic achievement in high poverty districts. Keywords health, obesity, education finance, academic achievement 1 West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA Corresponding Author: Tami Gurley-Calvez, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA Email: tami.calvez@mail.wvu.edu Public Finance Review 000(00) 1-28 ª The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1091142110375682 http://pfr.sagepub.com 1 Public Finance Review OnlineFirst, published on July 14, 2010 as doi:10.1177/1091142110375682