Overview of the 100 Largest School Districts

In the 2005–06 school year, there were 17,765 operational public school districts, 99,436 operational public schools, and 49.9 million students in public schools in the United States and jurisdictions (table 1). Additionally, there were 3.2 million full-time equivalent (FTE)¹ teachers in the 2005–06 school year and 2.9 million high school completers in the 2004–05 school year.² The 100 largest school districts comprised less than 1 percent of all public school districts but served 23 percent of all public elementary and secondary students. These school districts contained 17 percent of all public schools and employed 22 percent of all FTE teachers. In comparison, the 500 largest school districts comprised 3 percent of all public school districts, comprised 32 percent of public schools, and served 43 percent (21.5 million) of all public elementary and secondary students in the United States and jurisdictions.

The 100 largest school districts ranged in size from 47,595 to 1,014,058 students in 2005–06 (table A-1). Twenty-eight of these districts served over 100,000 students. The largest public school district was New York City Public Schools, New York, with 1,014,058 students enrolled in 1,408 schools. The next largest was Los Angeles Unified, California, with 727,319 students in 768 schools. The enrollment of each of these two largest districts was greater than the enrollment of each of the 27 smallest states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, each of the four outlying areas, and the Department of Defense dependents schools (overseas and domestic).³