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Digest of Education Statistics
1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 38.Historical summary of public elementary and secondary schoolstatistics: 1869-70 to 1992-93

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                      Item                       | 1869-70  |1879-80| 1889-90|1899-1900| 1909-10|1919-20 |1929-30 |1939-40 |1949-50 |  1959-60  |  1969-70  |  1979-80   |  1989-90    |    1990-91  |    1992-93
_________________________________________________|__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                        1                        |     2    |   3   |   4    |    5    | 6      |   7    |   8    |   9    |   10   |     11    |    12     |     13     |      14     |      15     |      16
_________________________________________________|__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
   Population, pupils, and instructional staff   |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
                                                 |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
Total population,\1\ in thousands ...............|   38,558 |50,156 | 62,622 |  75,995 | 90,490 |104,514 |121,767 |130,880 |149,199 |   179,323 |   201,385 |    224,567 |     246,819 |     249,402 |     255,028
Population aged 5-17 years,\1\ in thousands .....|   11,683 |15,066 | 18,473 |  21,573 | 24,011 | 27,571 | 31,414 | 30,151 | 30,223 |    43,881 |    52,386 |     48,041 |      44,947 |      45,306 |      46,662
Percent of total population 5-17 ................|     30.3 |  30.0 |   29.5 |    28.4 |   26.5 |   26.4 |   25.8 |   23.0 |   20.3 |      24.5 |      26.0 |       21.4 |        18.2 |        18.2 |        18.3
                                                 |==========|=======|========|=========|========|========|========|========|========|===========|===========|============|=============|=============|=============
Total enrollment in elementary and secondary     |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 schools, in thousands\2\ .......................|\3\ 7,562 | 9,867 | 12,723 |  15,503 | 17,814 | 21,578 | 25,678 | 25,434 | 25,112 |    36,087 |    45,550 |     41,651 |      40,543 |      41,217 |      42,816
                                                 |__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
  Kindergarten and grades 1-8, in thousands .....|\3\ 7,481 | 9,757 | 12,520 |  14,984 | 16,899 | 19,378 | 21,279 | 18,833 | 19,387 |    27,602 |    32,513 |     28,034 |      29,152 |      29,878 |      31,081
  Grades 9-12, in thousands .....................|\3\    80 |   110 |    203 |     519 |    915 |  2,200 |  4,399 |  6,601 |  5,725 |     8,485 |    13,037 |     13,616 |      11,390 |      11,338 |      11,735
                                                 |==========|=======|========|=========|========|========|========|========|========|===========|===========|============|=============|=============|=============
Enrollment as a percent of total population .....|\3\  19.6 |  19.7 |   20.3 |    20.4 |   19.7 |   20.6 |   21.1 |   19.4 |   16.8 |      20.1 |      22.6 |       18.5 |        16.4 |        16.5 |        16.8
Enrollment as a percent of 5- to 17-year-olds ...|\3\  64.7 |  65.5 |   68.9 |    71.9 |   74.2 |   78.3 |   81.7 |   84.4 |   83.1 |      82.2 |      87.0 |       86.7 |        90.2 |        91.0 |        91.8
Percent of total enrollment in high schools      |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 (grades 9-12 and postgraduate) .................|\3\   1.1 |   1.1 |    1.6 |     3.3 |    5.1 |   10.2 |   17.1 |   26.0 |   22.8 |      23.5 |      28.6 |       32.7 |        28.1 |        27.5 |        27.4
High school graduates, in thousands .............|      --- |   --- |     22 |      62 |    111 |    231 |    592 |  1,143 |  1,063 |     1,627 |     2,589 |      2,748 |       2,320 |       2,235 |       2,233
                                                 |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
Average daily attendance, in thousands ..........|    4,077 | 6,144 |  8,154 |  10,633 | 12,827 | 16,150 | 21,265 | 22,042 | 22,284 |    32,477 |    41,934 |     38,289 |      37,799 |      38,427 |      39,568
Total number of days attended by pupils          |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 enrolled, in millions ..........................|      539 |   801 |  1,098 |   1,535 |  2,011 |  2,615 |  3,673 |  3,858 |  3,964 |     5,782 |     7,501 |\4\   6,835 |         --- |         --- |         ---
Percent of enrolled pupils attending daily ......|     59.3 |  62.3 |   64.1 |    68.6 |   72.1 |   74.8 |   82.8 |   86.7 |   88.7 |      90.0 |      90.4 |\4\    90.1 |         --- |         --- |         ---
Average length of school term, in days ..........|    132.2 | 130.3 |  134.7 |   144.3 |  157.5 |  161.9 |  172.7 |  175.0 |  177.9 |     178.0 |     178.9 |\4\   178.5 |         --- |       179.8 |         ---
Average number of days attended per pupil .......|     78.4 |  81.1 |   86.3 |    99.0 |    113 |  121.2 |    143 |  151.7 |  157.9 |     160.2 |     161.7 |\4\   160.8 |         --- |         --- |         ---
                                                 |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
Total instructional staff, in thousands .........|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    678 |    880 |    912 |    963 |     1,457 |     2,286 |      2,406 |       2,986 |       3,051 |       3,140
  Supervisors, in thousands .....................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |      7 |      7 |      5 |    --- |       --- |       --- |        --- |         --- |         --- |         ---
  Principals, in thousands ......................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |     14 |     31 |     32 |     43 |        64 |        91 |        106 |         126 |         127 |         122
  Teachers, librarians, and other nonsupervisory |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
   instructional staff,\5\ in thousands .........|      201 |   287 |    364 |     423 |    523 |    657 |    843 |    875 |    920 |     1,393 |     2,195 |      2,300 |       2,860 |       2,924 |       3,017
    Men, in thousands ...........................|       78 |   123 |    126 |     127 |    110 |     93 |    140 |    195 |    196 |\4\    404 |\4\    711 |\4\     782 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Women, in thousands .........................|      123 |   164 |    238 |     296 |    413 |    585 |    703 |    681 |    724 |\4\    989 |\4\  1,484 |\4\   1,518 |         --- |         --- |         ---
    Percent men .................................|     38.7 |  42.8 |   34.5 |    29.9 |   21.1 |   14.1 |   16.6 |   22.2 |   21.3 |\4\   29.0 |\4\   32.4 |\4\    34.0 |         --- |         --- |         ---
                                                 |__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                     Finance                     |                                           Amounts in millions of current dollars
                                                 |_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Total revenue receipts ..........................|       ---|   --- |   $143 |    $220 |   $433 |   $970 | $2,089 | $2,261 | $5,437 |   $14,747 |   $40,267 |    $96,881 |    $208,548 |    $223,341 |    $248,496
  Federal government ............................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |      2 |      7 |     40 |    156 |       652 |     3,220 |      9,504 |      12,701 |      13,776 |      17,267
  State governments .............................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    160 |    354 |    684 |  2,166 |     5,768 |    16,063 |     45,349 |      98,239 |     105,325 |     113,397
  Local sources, including intermediate .........|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    808 |  1,728 |  1,536 |  3,116 |     8,327 |    20,985 |     42,029 |      97,608 |     104,240 |     117,832
Percent of revenue receipts from                 |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
  Federal government ............................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    0.3 |    0.4 |    1.8 |    2.9 |       4.4 |       8.0 |        9.8 |         6.1 |         6.2 |         6.9
  State governments .............................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |   16.5 |   16.9 |   30.3 |   39.8 |      39.1 |      39.9 |       46.8 |        47.1 |        47.2 |        45.6
  Local sources, including intermediate .........|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |   83.2 |   82.7 |   68.0 |   57.3 |      56.5 |      52.1 |       43.4 |        46.8 |        46.7 |        47.4
Total expenditures for public schools ...........|      $63 |   $78 |   $141 |    $215 |   $426 | $1,036 | $2,317 | $2,344 | $5,838 |   $15,613 |   $40,683 |    $95,962 |    $212,473 |    $229,430 |    $253,859
  Current expenditures\6\ .......................|       ---|   --- |    114 |     180 |    356 |    861 |  1,844 |  1,942 |  4,687 |\7\ 12,329 |\7\ 34,218 |\7\  86,984 |\7\  187,933 |\7\  202,038 |\7\  221,353
  Capital outlay\8\ .............................|       ---|   --- |     26 |      35 |     70 |    154 |    371 |    258 |  1,014 |     2,662 |     4,659 |      6,506 |      17,781 |      19,771 |      22,669
  Interest on school debt .......................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |     18 |     93 |    131 |    101 |       490 |     1,171 |      1,874 |       3,776 |       4,325 |       5,439
  Other current expenditures\9\ .................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |      3 |     10 |     13 |     36 |       133 |       636 |\10\    598 |       2,983 |       3,296 |       4,399
Percent of total expenditures devoted to:        |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
  Current expenditures\6\ .......................|       ---|   --- |   81.3 |    83.5 |   83.6 |   83.1 |   79.6 |   82.8 |   80.3 |\7\   79.0 |\7\   84.1 |\7\    90.6 |\7\     88.5 |\7\     88.1 |\7\     87.2
  Capital outlay\8\ .............................|       ---|   --- |   18.7 |    16.5 |   16.4 |   14.8 |   16.0 |   11.0 |   17.4 |      17.0 |      11.5 |        6.8 |         8.4 |         8.6 |         8.9
  Interest on school debt .......................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    1.8 |    4.0 |    5.6 |    1.7 |       3.1 |       2.9 |        2.0 |         1.8 |         1.9 |         2.1
  Other current expenditures\9\ .................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    0.3 |    0.4 |    0.6 |    0.6 |       0.8 |       1.6 |\10\    0.6 |         1.4 |         1.4 |         1.7
                                                 |__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                                                 |                  |        |         |         Amounts in current dollars
                                                 |__________________|________|_________|___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Annual salary of instructional staff\11\ ........|     $189 |  $195 |   $252 |    $325 |   $485 |   $871 | $1,420 | $1,441 | $3,010 |    $5,174 |    $9,047 |\12\$16,715 |\12\ $32,638 |\12\ $34,412 |\12\ $36,454
Personal income per member of labor force\1\ ....|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- |  1,634 |  1,356 |  3,400 |     5,722 |     9,583 |     19,370 |      35,362 |      37,454 |      40,588
Total school expenditures per capita of total    |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 population .....................................|     1.59 |  1.56 |   2.23 |    2.83 |   4.71 |   9.91 |  19.03 |  17.91 |     39 |        87 |       202 |        427 |         861 |         920 |         995
National income\1\ per capita ...................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- |    667 |    587 |  1,520 |     2,287 |     3,966 |      9,079 |      17,217 |      18,007 |      18,937
Current expenditure\6,13\ per pupil in A.D.A.\14\|       ---|   --- |  13.99 |   16.67 |  27.85 |  53.32 |  86.70 |  88.09 |    210 |       375 |       816 |      2,272 |       4,972 |       5,258 |       5,594
Total expenditure\15\ per pupil in A.D.A. .......|    15.55 | 12.71 |  17.23 |   20.21 |  33.23 |  64.16 | 108.49 | 105.74 |    260 |       471 |       955 |      2,491 |       5,542 |       5,885 |       6,305
National income per pupil in A.D.A. .............|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- |  3,845 |  3,502 | 10,312 |    12,627 |    19,044 |     53,250 |     112,423 |     116,872 |     122,056
Current expenditure per day\16\ per pupil in     |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 A.D.A.\6\ ......................................|       ---|   --- |   0.10 |    0.12 |   0.18 |   0.33 |   0.50 |   0.50 |   1.17 |      2.11 |      4.56 |      12.73 |         --- |         --- |         ---
Total expenditure per day per pupil in A.D.A. ...|     0.12 |  0.10 |   0.13 |    0.14 |   0.21 |   0.40 |   0.63 |   0.60 |   1.46 |      2.65 |      5.34 |      13.95 |         --- |         --- |         ---
                                                 |__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________
                                                 |                                             Amounts in constant 1992-93 dollars
                                                 |__________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Annual salary of instructional staff\11\ ........|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  | $6,514 |$11,824 |$14,696 |$18,114 |   $25,097 |   $34,134 |\12\$30,687 |\12\ $36,635 |\12\ $36,624 |\12\ $36,454
Personal income per member of labor force\1\ ....|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- | 13,606 | 13,829 | 20,461 |    27,755 |    36,158 |     35,561 |      39,693 |      39,862 |      40,588
Total school expenditures per capita of total    |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 population .....................................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |     74 |    158 |    183 |    236 |       422 |       762 |        785 |         966 |         979 |         995
National income\1\ per capita ...................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- |  5,554 |  5,987 |  9,147 |    11,093 |    14,962 |     16,668 |      19,326 |      19,165 |      18,937
Current expenditure\6,13\ per pupil in A.D.A.\14\|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    399 |    722 |    898 |  1,264 |     1,820 |     3,079 |      4,171 |       5,581 |       5,596 |       5,594
Total expenditure\15\ per pupil in A.D.A. .......|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    480 |    903 |  1,078 |  1,567 |     2,285 |     3,603 |      4,573 |       6,221 |       6,263 |       6,305
National income per pupil in A.D.A. .............|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |    --- | 32,015 | 35,715 | 62,058 |    61,250 |    71,854 |     97,761 |     126,191 |     124,385 |     122,056
Current expenditure per day\16\ per pupil in     |          |       |        |         |        |        |        |        |        |           |           |            |             |             |
 A.D.A.\6\ ......................................|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |   2.47 |   4.16 |   5.10 |   7.04 |     10.23 |     17.20 |      23.37 |         --- |         --- |         ---
Total expenditure per day per pupil in A.D.A. ...|       ---|   --- |   ---  |   ---   |   ---  |   2.81 |   4.93 |   5.75 |   8.26 |     12.08 |     18.93 |      24.06 |         --- |         --- |         ---
_________________________________________________|__________|_______|________|_________|________|________|________|________|________|___________|___________|____________|_____________|_____________|_____________

\1\Data on population and labor force are from the Bureau of the Census, and data on personal income and national income are from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. Population data through 1900 are based on total population from the decennial census. From 1909-10 to 1959-60, population data are total population, including armed forces overseas, as of July 1. Data for later years are for resident population that excludes armed forces overseas.
\2\Data for 1869-70 through 1959-60 are school year enrollment. Data for later years are fall enrollment.
\3\Data for 1870-71.
\4\Estimated by the National Center for Education Statistics.
\5\Prior to 1919-20, data are for the number of different persons employed rather than number of positions.
\6\Prior to 1919-20, includes interest on school debt.
\7\Because of the modification of the scope of "current expenditures for elementary and secondary schools," data for 1959-60 and later years are not entirely comparable with prior years.
\8\Beginning in 1969-70, includes capital outlay by state and local school building authorities.
\9\Includes summer schools, community colleges, and adult education. Beginning in 1959-60, also includes community services, formerly classified with "current expenditures for elementary and secondary schools."
\10\Excludes community colleges and adult education.
\11\Average includes supervisors, principals, teachers, and other nonsupervisory instructional staff.
\12\Estimated by the National Education Association.
\13\Excludes current expenditures not allocable to pupil costs.
\14\"ADA" means average daily attendance in elementary and secondary schools.
\15\The expenditure figure used here is the sum of current expenditures allocable to pupil costs, capital outlay, and interest on school debt.
\16\Per-day rates derived by dividing annual rates by average length of term. ---Data not collected.

NOTE.--Kindergarten enrollment includes a relatively small number of nursery school pupils. Because of rounding, details may not add to totals. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. Beginning in 1959-60, data include Alaska and Hawaii.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems; Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems; Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education, FY 1980; Common Core of Data surveys; and Council of Economic Advisers, Economic Indicators. (This table was prepared June 1995.)


1995 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest