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ContactIn the 2006–07 school year, each of the 100 largest school districts had at least 47,680 students, whereas 71 percent of all regular school districts had fewer than 2,500 students (table 3 and A-1). However, these smaller districts served only 16 percent of all students; 84 percent of students were enrolled in districts of 2,500 or more students (table 3).
The average school district in the United States and jurisdictions had 5.8 schools; in comparison, the 100 largest school districts averaged 168.3 schools per district (derived from table 1). Two of the three largest districts—New York City Public Schools, New York, and the Puerto Rico Department of Education—each had more than 1,400 schools (table A-1).
Average regular school5 size ranges from a low of 361 students (in the Puerto Rico Department of Education) to a high of 1,525 (in the Gwinnett County School District, Georgia) in the 100 largest school districts in the 2006–07 school year (table A-2). The largest regular school in the 100 largest districts was the 5,944 student Chicago International Charter, Illinois.6
The 100 largest school districts had more students per school than the average school district (687 vs. 518) (table 1). Fifteen of the 100 largest school districts had an average regular school size of more than 1,000 students (table A-2). In addition to larger school sizes, the 100 largest school districts also had a higher median pupil/teacher ratio than the average school district (15.6 to 1 vs. 15.2 to 1) (table 1). Among the 100 largest public school districts, Jordan District, Utah, had the highest median pupil/teacher ratio in regular schools (23.7 to 1) and Cleveland Municipal City, Ohio, had the smallest (9.8 to 1) (table A-3). The median pupil/teacher ratio for regular primary schools among the 100 largest public school districts that met reporting standards was lower than that for high schools (15.4 to 1 vs. 17.6 to 1).
Of the 15,172 schools with membership in the 100 largest public school districts, 9,962 were primary schools, 2,503 were middle schools, 2,011 were high schools, and 696 were schools with other instructional levels (table A-4). The Puerto Rico Department of Education—which had the most schools with membership in total—had the largest number of primary (867) and other instructional level (199) schools of the 100 largest public school districts, whereas New York City Public Schools, New York, had the largest number of middle schools (276) and high schools (209).
School staff. For the United States and jurisdictions, 52 percent of staff were teachers7, while in the 100 largest districts 55 percent of staff were teachers (table A-5). Sixty-nine of the 100 largest districts reported that 50 percent or more of staff were teachers, and 10 districts reported that 60 percent or more of staff were teachers (these districts were New York City Public Schools, New York; City of Chicago School District 299, Illinois; Clark County School District, Nevada; Philadelphia City School District, Pennsylvania; Greenville 01, South Carolina; Washoe County School District, Nevada; Boston, Massachusetts; San Francisco Unified, California; Corona-Norco Unified, California; and Lewisville Independent School District, Texas). In 27 of the 100 largest school districts 1 percent or more of the staff were district administrators.
Title I eligibility. Ninety-seven of the 100 largest school districts reported data for Title I eligible schools and programs for the 2006–07 school year (table A-6). The percentage of Title I eligible schools in these districts ranged from 6 percent (in Jordan District, Utah) to almost 100 percent (in the Puerto Rico Department of Education). Within the 100 largest school districts that reported data, 60 percent of students attended a Title I eligible school, compared to 57 percent of students in the United States and jurisdictions (Hoffman 2009).
Magnet schools and charter schools. Among the 91 of the 100 largest districts that reported data on magnet schools or reported that magnet schools did not exist in that state, there were 1,025 magnet schools (table A-7). The largest number of magnet schools among these districts was in the City of Chicago School District, Illinois, with 292 magnet schools (or 46 percent of its schools and 49 percent of its students in magnet schools). There were 789 charter schools administered by the 100 largest school districts in the 2006–07 school year. This number does not include charter schools that are independent of the school district.8 Two percent of the students in these districts attended one of these charter schools. In the United States and jurisdictions, there were 3,970 charter schools, including both independent and dependent charter schools, attended by 2 percent of students in 2006–07 (Hoffman 2009). The largest number of charter schools administered by any of the 100 largest school districts was 114 schools in Los Angeles Unified, California.
Overall, the 100 largest school districts in 2006–07 had 22 percent of the United States and jurisdictions’ public school students (table 1). The 100 largest school districts were not homogeneous, and certain student characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, poverty level, and disability status, varied across the districts about which the CCD collected data in 2006–07.
Race/ethnicity. American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asians/Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites are the five racial/ethnic groups about which the CCD collected data in 2006–07. The 100 largest school districts served 36 percent of the 22.1 million public school students in the United States and jurisdictions who are Black, non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native, compared to serving 12 percent of the 27.9 million students in the U.S. and jurisdictions who are White, non-Hispanic (derived from tables 1 and 2).9 In 65 of the 100 largest districts, non-Hispanic Whites comprised less than 50 percent of student membership (table A-8). In more than one-third (35) of the 100 largest districts, students who were Black, non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native comprised more than 75 percent of the student membership (table A-8). Seven of the 10 largest school districts had combined Black, non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native student memberships of at least this size.
Even with the relatively high combined Black, non-Hispanic, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native membership in the 100 largest school districts, 35 of the districts reported 50 percent or more of their students as White, non-Hispanic (table A-8). In 7 of these 35 districts, at least 75 percent of students were White, non-Hispanic. In 14 of the 100 largest districts, half or more of the membership was Black, non-Hispanic. Twenty-two districts reported that the majority of students were Hispanic; 4 of these were among the 10 largest districts (table A-9). In Hawaii, a one-district state, and San Francisco Unified, California, the majority of students were Asian/Pacific Islander.
Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility. The 100 largest school districts had a disproportionate percentage of students eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program relative to all public school districts. Among the 100 largest school districts that reported free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, 53 percent of students were eligible, compared to 42 percent of students in all districts (table 2). Forty-two of these districts reported 50 percent or more of their students as eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program (table A-9).
Students with disabilities. Approximately 1.4 million students in the 100 largest school districts had Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) (table A-10). Students with IEPs made up 13 percent of all students in these districts, slightly lower than the percentage for the United States and jurisdictions as a whole (14 percent).10 In the largest school district, New York City Public Schools, New York, 17 percent (or 169,308 students) had IEPs. About 2 percent of the schools in the 100 largest school districts were special education schools (derived from table A-11).
High school completers, grades 9–12 dropout rate, and the averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR). The number of 2005–06 high school completers in the 85 of the 100 largest school districts for which data were available ranged from 1,916 (in the Brownsville Independent School District, Texas) to 46,870 (in New York City Public Schools, New York) (table A-12). For the 95 of the 100 largest school districts for which data were available, the grade 9–12 dropout rate11 was 4 percent. Among these 95 districts, this ranged from 0.5 percent (in Capistrano Unified, California) to 21 percent (in Denver County 1, Colorado). The AFGR12 was 76 percent for the 87 of the 100 largest school districts for which the rate could be calculated in 2005–06, as compared to a rate of 73 percent for the United States and jurisdictions (Stillwell and Hoffman 2008). This ranged from a low of 43 percent (in Detroit City School District, Michigan) to a high of 94 percent (in Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia).
All revenue and expenditure data presented in this report are in current (unadjusted) dollars. In the 2005–06 school year (FY 2006), the 100 largest school districts received approximately $120 billion for public elementary and secondary education (table A-13). Of this approximately $120 billion, 31 percent ($37 billion) went to the 5 largest school districts (New York City Public Schools, New York; Los Angeles Unified, California; Puerto Rico Department of Education; City of Chicago School District 299, Illinois; and Dade County School District, Florida). Across the 100 largest districts, state sources accounted for 44 percent of revenues, local sources for 45 percent, and federal sources for 11 percent (table A-14). Revenues from the federal government received by the 100 largest school districts constituted between 2 percent (in Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia) and 20 percent (in the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, Louisiana) and 32 percent (in the Puerto Rico Department of Education) of all revenues to the district.
Taken together, the two largest school districts, New York City Public Schools, New York, and Los Angeles Unified, California, spent 22 percent of the current expenditure dollars spent by the 100 largest school districts (derived from table A-13). The percentage of total current expenditures spent on instruction ranged from a low of 35 percent (in the Philadelphia City School District, Pennsylvania) to highs of 65 percent (in New York City Public Schools, New York) and 96 percent (in the Puerto Rico Department of Education) in the 100 largest school districts (table A-14).
Current expenditures per pupil in FY 2006 ranged from lows of $5,719 (in the Puerto Rico Department of Education) and $6,033 (in the Jordan District, Utah) to a high of $19,749 (in Boston, Massachusetts) in the 100 largest school districts in FY 2006 (table A-13). (See appendix C for definitions of specific revenues and expenditures.)
Expenditures for charter and private schools. Payments by, or on behalf of, public school districts to independent charter schools and private schools are not included in the expenditures in this report. In some states these payments are made by some entity other than the public school district, and are therefore not reported on the School District Finance Survey. Information on expenditures for independent charter schools and private schools, for those school districts reporting these expenditures, can be found on the Build a Table application.
