Skip Navigation
Characteristics of Public School Districts in the United States:
NCES 2009-320
June 2009


Table 7.    Percentage distribution of public school districts, by specific agreements with teachers' associations or unions and selected public school district characteristics: 2007–08
 
Selected public school
district characteristic
Percentage distribution of districts that had a specific agreement with a teachers' association or union
Collective bargaining1   Meet-and-confer2   No specific agreement3  
All public school districts  53.5   10.9   35.6  
             
District size             
1 school  33.3   9.0   57.7  
2-3 schools  63.6   12.0   24.4  
4-5 schools  63.5   11.5   25.0  
6-9 schools  66.0   10.8   23.1  
10-19 schools  58.3   12.6   29.0  
20 or more schools  56.7   12.4   31.0  
             
Community type             
City  30.4   8.6   60.9  
Suburban  73.9   10.2   15.8  
Town  55.9   11.7   32.3  
Rural  50.0   11.5   38.5  
             
District K-12 enrollment             
Less than 250  29.5   9.2   61.3  
250-999  51.1   11.4   37.5  
1,000-1,999  67.2   11.0   21.9  
2,000-4,999  66.8   10.9   22.3  
5,000-9,999  63.9   11.6   24.5  
10,000 or more  59.7   12.9   27.4  
             
Percent of K-12 students in
  district who were approved for
  free or reduced-price lunches
           
0-34  74.5   11.4   14.1  
35-49  57.2   12.2   30.6  
50-74  36.7   11.5   51.9  
75 or more  29.4   7.2   63.4  
District did not participate
  in free or reduced-price
  lunch program
29.1   8.5 ! 62.4  
! Interpret data with caution. The standard error for this estimate is equal to 30 percent or more of the estimate's value.
1 Collective bargaining agreements are legally-binding agreements.
2 Meet-and-confer discussions are for the purpose of reaching non-legally-binding agreements.
3 This category includes both no agreements and other agreements that do not meet the precise legal definitions of collective bargaining and meet-and-confer agreements.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), "Public School District Data File," 2007–08.