• Introduction
• General Trends Since 1980–81
• Types and Numbers of Agencies and Schools in 1997–98
• Content of the Tables

The tables in this report provide basic information about public elementary and secondary schools and education agencies during the 1997–98 and 1996–97 school years. The data describe the numbers and types of these institutions, their students, and their staff. The purpose is to make this information easily accessible through a number of summary tables presented in print and on the Internet.

The statistics were collected through the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The CCD reports data provided voluntarily each year by the education agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (overseas), and five outlying areas. The system includes the “Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey” and the “Local Education Agency Universe Survey,” which are the major focus of this report. Data from the “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education” are also used in some analyses.

The CCD collects information about the full range of local education agencies, including those that typically offer some services other than the direct instruction of students. The same is true for schools; the CCD includes regular and specialized schools, and those with and without student membership. This discussion is limited to the 50 states and the District of Columbia (collectively referred to as “the states”). The tables in the full report include data for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (overseas), American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; however, these data are excluded from the U.S. totals. In general, the following groups are the focus of the tables and discussion:

• regular school districts: locally administered education agencies that are directly responsible for instruction (including components of supervisory unions). This excludes supervisory and special service education agencies, and those operated by the state or federal government.
• regular schools: those primarily offering a regular academic curriculum, although specialized curricula may be included as well. This excludes schools whose primary offering is vocational, special, or alternative education.
• with membership: schools and districts that report at least one student in membership. Membership is the number of students enrolled on October 1 or the school day closest to that date.

Students attending class in more than one school must be reported with a single school on the CCD; the same is true for education agencies. Thus, some schools that do offer instruction are reported with no membership. This is most likely to occur with vocational, special, or alternative schools in which students presumably take classes while being reported under a regular “home” school. Figure A illustrates this.

Figure A.—Types and numbers of local education agencies and schools: School year 1997–98

Between the 1980–81 and 1997–98 school years, a number of school districts were consolidated, and the number of public school students grew by almost 13 percent (table A). This growth in enrollment was accompanied by a smaller increase in the number of schools (4 percent), with the result that schools and districts served, on average, more students in 1997–98 than in 1980–81. The pupil/teacher ratio, however, dropped by almost two students per teacher.

Table A.—Numbers of education agencies, schools, and students: 1980–81 and 1997–98

There is no standard organizational structure for public elementary/secondary education from state to state. Most students do attend regular elementary or secondary schools within traditional school districts. However, state education systems vary in how they deliver and manage instruction and provide the other specialized services that support instruction.

Across the United States there were 16,394 local education agencies in 1997–98 (figure A). Both the District of Columbia and Hawaii consist of a single, regular school district; there were 14,805 regular school districts nationwide in 1997–98. A small proportion of these—378—did not report any students enrolled for that year. About 1 in 10 education agencies, or a total of 1,589, were specialized organizations. These included regional education service agencies, which typically provide testing, program management, specialized student services, research and evaluation, or similar services other than direct regular instruction, and supervisory unions, through which a single district provides administrative services for several smaller ones. Agencies operated directly by the state (for example, residential schools for the deaf or blind) and by federal agencies were also in this category.

There were 89,508 public elementary/secondary schools in 1997–98. Of these, 82,660 were regular schools while 6,848 were primarily directed toward vocational, special, or alternative education. A total of 1,877 schools reported having no students in membership.

As previously noted, the CCD directions state that when students attend multiple schools they be reported for only one (this avoids duplicating student counts). Typically, the enrollment is attributed to the student’s regular school, with the result that many active special, vocational, and alternative schools are shown as having no students. For example, figure A shows that almost two-thirds of the vocational schools were reported with no students.

Table B, however, indicates that the numbers of special, vocational, and alternative schools actually increased somewhat between 1993–94 (the first year of the Key Statistics report series) and 1997–98. Growth was greatest among the alternative schools, which increased by almost 48 percent in this time. However, the numbers of vocational and regular schools grew by about 3 percent and the number of special education schools increased by almost 7 percent.

Table B.—Number of regular, special education, vocational, and alternative schools: 1993–94 and 1997–98

The complete report includes tables from two school years, 1997–98 and 1996–97. The more current data are presented first. Tables 1 through 14 and 30 through 43 include information about the public schools and education agencies. They cover numbers, size (in terms of pupils), urbanicity (ranging from large city to rural), and grades served.

Tables 15 through 24 and 44 through 53 provide information about student characteristics and outcomes. This includes the distribution of students by grade level, the distribution by various racial/ethnic groups, the numbers eligible for free lunch, and the numbers with special education Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). There is also information about the numbers of students completing high school. The student data are broken out by school or district urbanicity or by school instructional level, where appropriate.

The last tables, 25 through 29 and 54 through 58, report the numbers of teachers and other school staff. These tables focus on pupil/teacher ratios and ratios of teachers to administrators and teachers to support staff.