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Digest of Education Statistics
1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 88.Public school districts and public and private elementary and secondary schools: 1929-30 to 1994-95

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          |            |                 Public schools\2\                   |     Private schools\2,3\
          |  Public    |-----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------
  School  |  school    |  Total,  |  Total,  | Elementary schools  |         |          |          |
   year   |districts\1\|   all    | regular  |---------------------|Secondary| Total\4\ |Elementary|Secondary
          |            |schools\4\|schools\5\|  Total  |One-teacher| schools |          | schools  | schools
----------|------------|----------|----------|---------|-----------|---------|----------|----------|----------
    1     |      2     |    3     |    4     |    5    |     6     |    7    |     8    |    9     |   10
----------|------------|----------|----------|---------|-----------|---------|----------|----------|----------
1929-30 ..|        --- |      --- |      --- | 238,306 |   149,282 |  23,930 |      --- |    9,275 |    3,258
1937-38 ..|    119,001 |      --- |      --- | 221,660 |   121,178 |  25,467 |      --- |    9,992 |    3,327
1939-40 ..|    117,108 |      --- |      --- |     --- |   113,600 |     --- |      --- |   11,306 |    3,568
1945-46 ..|    101,382 |      --- |      --- | 160,227 |    86,563 |  24,314 |      --- |    9,863 |    3,294
1947-48 ..|     94,926 |      --- |      --- | 146,760 |    75,096 |  25,484 |      --- |   10,071 |    3,292
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1949-50 ..|     83,718 |      --- |      --- | 128,225 |    59,652 |  24,542 |      --- |   10,375 |    3,331
1951-52 ..|     71,094 |      --- |      --- | 123,763 |    50,742 |  23,746 |      --- |   10,666 |    3,322
1953-54 ..|     63,057 |      --- |      --- | 110,875 |    42,865 |  25,637 |      --- |   11,739 |    3,913
1955-56 ..|     54,859 |      --- |      --- | 104,427 |    34,964 |  26,046 |      --- |   12,372 |    3,887
1957-58 ..|     47,594 |      --- |      --- |  95,446 |    25,341 |  25,507 |      --- |   13,065 |    3,994
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1959-60 ..|     40,520 |      --- |      --- |  91,853 |    20,213 |  25,784 |      --- |   13,574 |    4,061
1961-62 ..|     35,676 |      --- |      --- |  81,910 |    13,333 |  25,350 |      --- |   14,762 |    4,129
1963-64 ..|     31,705 |      --- |      --- |  77,584 |     9,895 |  26,431 |      --- |      --- |    4,451
1965-66 ..|     26,983 |      --- |      --- |  73,216 |     6,491 |  26,597 |   17,849 |   15,340 |    4,606
1967-68 ..|     22,010 |      --- |   94,197 |  70,879 |     4,146 |  27,011 |      --- |      --- |      ---
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1970-71 ..|     17,995 |      --- |   89,372 |  65,800 |     1,815 |  25,352 |      --- |   14,372 |    3,770
1973-74 ..|     16,730 |      --- |   88,655 |  65,070 |     1,365 |  25,906 |      --- |      --- |      ---
1975-76 ..|     16,376 |   88,597 |   87,034 |  63,242 |     1,166 |  25,330 |      --- |      --- |      ---
1976-77 ..|     16,271 |      --- |   86,501 |  62,644 |     1,111 |  25,378 |   19,910 |   16,385 |    5,904
1978-79 ..|     16,014 |      --- |   84,816 |  61,982 |     1,056 |  24,504 |   19,489 |   16,097 |    5,766
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1980-81 ..|     15,912 |   85,982 |   83,688 |  61,069 |       921 |  24,362 |   20,764 |   16,792 |    5,678
1982-83 ..|     15,824 |   84,740 |   82,039 |  59,656 |       798 |  23,988 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1983-84 ..|     15,747 |   84,178 |   81,418 |  59,082 |       838 |  23,947 |\6\27,694 |\6\20,872 |\6\ 7,862
1984-85   |        --- |   84,007 |   81,147 |  58,827 |       825 |  23,916 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1985-86 ..|        --- |      --- |      --- |     --- |       --- |     --- |\6\25,616 |\6\20,252 |\6\ 7,387
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1986-87 ..|\7\  15,713 |   83,455 |   82,190 |  60,784 |       763 |  23,389 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1987-88 ..|\7\  15,577 |   83,248 |   82,248 |  61,490 |       729 |  22,937 |\6\26,807 |\6\22,959 |\6\ 8,418
1988-89 ..|\7\  15,376 |   83,165 |   82,081 |  61,531 |       583 |  22,785 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1989-90 ..|\7\  15,367 |   83,425 |   82,396 |  62,037 |       630 |  22,639 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1990-91 ..|\7\  15,358 |   84,538 |   81,746 |  61,340 |       617 |  22,731 |\6\24,690 |\6\22,223 |\6\ 8,989
          |            |          |          |         |           |         |          |          |
1991-92 ..|\7\  15,173 |   84,578 |   81,859 |  61,739 |       569 |  22,601 |\6\25,998 |\6\23,523 |\6\ 9,282
1992-93 ..|\7\  15,025 |   84,501 |   82,224 |  62,229 |       430 |  22,544 |      --- |       ---|      ---
1993-94 ..|\7\  14,881 |   85,393 |   82,785 |  62,726 |       442 |  22,733 |\6\26,093 |\6\23,543 |\6\10,555
1994-95 ..|\7\  14,772 |   86,221 |   83,854 |  63,572 |       458 |  23,046 |      --- |       ---|      ---
----------|------------|----------|----------|---------|-----------|---------|----------|----------|----------

\1\Includes operating and nonoperating districts.

\2\Schools with both elementary and secondary programs are included under elementary schools and also under secondary schools.

\3\Data for most years are partly estimated.

\4\Includes regular schools and special schools not classified by grade span.

\5\Includes elementary, secondary, and combined elementary/secondary schools.

\6\These data are from sample surveys and should not be compared directly with the data for earlier years.

\7\Because of expanded survey coverage, data are not directly comparable with figures for earlier years.

---Data not available.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems; Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems; Statistics of Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Schools; Private Schools in American Education; and Common Core of Data surveys. (This table was prepared October 1996.)


1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest