Selected Findings:
Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Students: School Year 2004–05

Public elementary and secondary schools had 48.8 million students in membership in school year 2004–05 (table 1). Among the states with the largest number of students in membership were California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, each with more than 2 million students.

There were 93,295 public schools with students in membership in school year 2004–05 (table 2),² including 86,487 regular schools, 1,635 special education schools, 326 vocational education schools, 4,847 alternative education schools, and 3,294 charter schools.³ Charter schools served almost 2 percent of all students. There were 51,022 schools that were Title I eligible, and these schools enrolled almost 50 percent of all students.

Over 5.9 million public elementary and secondary students (almost 14 percent of the total student membership) had Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)⁴ in school year 2004–05 (table 3). About 17.6 million students (37 percent of the total student membership) were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Looking at students for whom race/ethnicity information was reported,⁵ almost 28 million were White, non-Hispanic; 9.1 million were Hispanic; 8.3 million were Black, non-Hispanic; 2.1 million were Asian/Pacific Islander; and 581,481 were American Indian/Alaska Native. In California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas, students of a single racial/ethnic group other than White, non-Hispanic comprised the largest group within the state.

The average student/teacher ratio in public schools in school year 2004–05 was 15.8 (i.e., there were about 16 students for every teacher employed) (table 4). Arizona, California, Oregon, and Utah had student/teacher ratios higher than 20 to 1. Overall, public schools staffed 6.1 million full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions, including 3.1 million teachers and 707,028 teacher aides.

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² In the CCD, schools can be reported with no student enrollment because each student can be included in the enrollment for only a single school. For example, students who are dually enrolled in a regular school and a vocational school can only be reported among the membership of one of these schools. Because of this, there are operational schools without membership.
³ Regular, special education, vocational, and alternative education schools can also be charter schools.
⁴ IEPs do not include gifted/talented students.
⁵ Race/ethnicity was reported for 98 percent of the total student membership.