This paper uses data from series of Education Statistical Abstract (ESA) 1989-1992, ESA 1993, ESA 1994, ESA 1995, ESA 1996, ESA 1997, ESA
1998, Headcount and School Mapping Exercises 1999, ESA 2000, and ESA 2001 and interviews to assess the effect of UPE, and public education
expenditures on quantity and access to primary education (as measured by the primary gross enrolment ratio, the primary net enrolment ratio),
the internal efficiency of education systems (as measured by the survival rate to primary grade five, the primary school completion rate, and
dropout rates). Uganda abolished primary school fees in 1997 and simultaneously tripled per-pupil spending. We ask whether this unprecedented
fiscal shock translated into better schooling outcomes. Merging eight rounds of Education Statistical Abstracts (1989-2001) with the 1999 National
School Census and 42 key-informant interviews, we exploit the staggered timing of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) reform and district-
level variation in pre-reform funding to estimate difference-in-difference models. Net enrolment jumped 18 percentage points within three years,
but the primary completion rate rose by only 3 points and the survival rate to Grade 5 actually fell 6 points. Instrumental-variable estimates show
that a 10 % increase in real per-pupil expenditure raised net enrolment by 1.7 points (SE 0.4) yet had no discernible impact on completion or
dropout. Qualitative evidence attributes the enrolment surge to fee elimination rather than additional resources; resources that did arrive were
absorbed by salary arrears and ballooning pupil–teacher ratios. The findings suggest that, without complementary investments in teacher quality
and school governance, budgetary expansion alone yields quantity gains but not learning or efficiency improvements.