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Digest of Education Statistics
2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 216.20. Number and enrollment of public elementary and secondary schools, by school level, type, and charter, magnet, and virtual status: Selected years, 1990-91 through 2016-17
School level, type, and
charter, magnet, or
virtual status
Number of schools Fall enrollment
1990-91 2000-01 2005-06 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 1990-91 2000-01 2005-06 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Total, all schools 84,538 93,273 97,382 98,817 98,328 98,454 98,271 98,176 98,277 98,158 41,141,366 47,060,714 48,912,085 49,177,617 49,256,120 49,519,559 49,777,410 50,009,771 50,115,178 50,274,747
School type                                        
Regular 80,395 85,422 87,585 88,929 88,663 89,031 89,183 89,386 89,501 89,527 40,599,943 46,194,730 47,957,375 48,259,245 48,273,539 48,583,049 48,863,752 49,178,890 49,313,134 49,468,870
Special education 1,932 2,008 2,128 2,206 2,087 2,034 2,010 1,954 2,005 1,991 209,145 174,577 222,497 190,910 195,161 198,626 214,611 186,269 180,155 184,261
Vocational 1,060 1,025 1,221 1,485 1,434 1,403 1,380 1,387 1,396 1,391 198,117 199,669 217,621 164,013 159,905 160,207 148,447 147,550 146,321 146,601
Alternative1 1,151 4,818 6,448 6,197 6,144 5,986 5,698 5,449 5,375 5,249 134,161 491,738 514,592 563,449 627,515 577,677 550,600 497,062 475,568 475,015
                                         
School level and type                                        
Elementary2 59,015 64,601 66,026 67,086 66,689 66,708 67,034 67,073 66,758 66,837 26,503,677 30,673,453 31,104,018 31,581,751 31,724,573 31,918,613 32,226,881 32,225,908 32,035,708 32,132,682
Regular 58,440 63,674 64,996 65,874 65,461 65,572 65,948 66,036 65,734 65,853 26,400,740 30,582,610 31,003,942 31,441,027 31,545,886 31,772,432 32,083,759 32,116,995 31,930,363 32,034,365
Special education 419 496 508 587 544 541 543 578 568 551 58,204 42,127 49,652 58,987 58,844 59,826 62,596 54,161 50,508 43,555
Vocational 31 8 8 16 17 15 7 6 5 5 17,686 2,409 1,713 3,495 4,558 3,734 1,791 1,749 1,729 1,960
Alternative1 125 423 514 609 667 580 536 453 451 428 27,047 46,307 48,711 78,242 115,285 82,621 78,735 53,003 53,108 52,802
                                         
Secondary3 21,135 21,994 23,998 24,544 24,357 24,294 24,067 24,181 24,040 23,814 13,569,787 15,038,171 16,219,309 15,692,610 15,708,815 15,670,275 15,640,128 15,731,561 15,748,184 15,798,446
Regular 19,459 18,456 19,252 19,449 19,441 19,479 19,411 19,441 19,325 19,264 13,313,097 14,567,969 15,685,032 15,197,786 15,194,153 15,161,226 15,167,671 15,270,834 15,296,173 15,355,391
Special education 165 219 368 359 339 333 331 339 313 316 11,913 12,607 42,696 27,990 27,905 28,235 28,312 24,729 21,929 21,700
Vocational 1,010 997 1,185 1,387 1,349 1,324 1,311 1,318 1,329 1,332 174,105 193,981 209,762 154,088 154,187 154,610 144,066 144,042 142,611 142,332
Alternative1 501 2,322 3,193 3,349 3,228 3,158 3,014 3,083 3,073 2,902 70,672 263,614 281,819 312,746 332,570 326,204 300,079 291,956 287,471 279,023
                                         
Combined elementary/
   secondary4 
2,325 5,096 5,707 6,137 6,311 6,329 6,189 6,347 6,788 6,783 925,887 1,266,778 1,526,186 1,897,712 1,818,020 1,926,786 1,898,252 2,049,039 2,329,346 2,335,618
Regular 1,784 2,780 3,121 3,363 3,435 3,558 3,446 3,713 4,236 4,236 855,814 1,007,368 1,263,952 1,620,031 1,533,002 1,649,010 1,611,918 1,790,208 2,085,918 2,078,659
Special education 376 715 735 964 970 935 940 935 923 907 43,992 86,253 91,966 99,120 104,344 107,295 111,958 106,500 107,658 112,826
Vocational 19 20 28 82 68 64 62 63 62 54 6,326 3,279 6,146 6,430 1,160 1,863 2,590 1,759 1,981 2,309
Alternative1 146 1,581 1,823 1,728 1,838 1,772 1,741 1,636 1,567 1,586 19,755 169,878 164,122 172,131 179,514 168,618 171,786 150,572 133,789 141,824
                                         
Other (not classified by
   grade span)
2,063 1,582 1,651 1,050 971 1,123 981 575 691 724 142,015 82,312 62,572 5,544 4,712 3,885 12,149 3,263 1,940 8,001
Regular 712 512 216 243 326 422 378 196 206 174 30,292 36,783 4,449 401 498 381 404 853 680 455
Special education 972 578 517 296 234 225 196 102 201 217 95,036 33,590 38,183 4,813 4,068 3,270 11,745 879 60 6,180
Vocational 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alternative1 379 492 918 511 411 476 407 277 284 333 16,687 11,939 19,940 330 146 234 0 1,531 1,200 1,366
                                         
Charter status and level                                        
All charter schools5 --- 1,993 3,780 5,274 5,696 6,079 6,465 6,747 6,855 7,011 --- 448,343 1,012,906 1,787,091 2,057,599 2,269,435 2,522,022 2,721,786 2,845,322 3,010,287
Elementary2 --- 1,011 1,969 2,866 3,127 3,388 3,634 3,851 3,854 3,934 --- 249,101 532,217 905,575 1,045,492 1,156,075 1,288,568 1,405,015 1,448,523 1,511,812
Secondary3 --- 467 1,057 1,368 1,418 1,465 1,522 1,563 1,576 1,618 --- 79,588 219,627 341,534 386,482 399,921 443,423 467,231 482,296 504,301
Combined elementary/
    secondary4 
--- 448 704 1,027 1,112 1,204 1,268 1,330 1,406 1,454 --- 117,377 259,837 539,653 625,429 713,073 789,883 848,875 914,110 994,021
Other (not classified
    by grade span)
--- 67 50 13 39 22 41 3 19 5 --- 2,277 1,225 329 196 366 148 665 393 153
                                         
Magnet status and level                                        
All magnet schools5 --- 1,469 2,736 2,722 2,949 3,151 3,254 3,285 3,237 3,164 --- 1,213,976 2,103,013 2,055,133 2,248,177 2,478,531 2,556,644 2,609,104 2,604,145 2,537,011
Elementary2 --- 1,111 1,994 1,849 2,012 2,150 2,164 2,216 2,135 2,087 --- 704,763 1,186,160 1,035,288 1,158,405 1,287,771 1,300,317 1,312,571 1,281,873 1,266,076
Secondary3 --- 328 643 746 802 862 939 911 884 853 --- 484,684 869,010 944,434 1,015,267 1,118,574 1,178,272 1,207,248 1,188,316 1,141,181
Combined elementary/
    secondary4 
--- 29 80 103 116 121 133 142 203 205 --- 24,529 47,509 75,411 74,505 72,148 78,055 89,277 133,956 129,752
Other (not classified
    by grade span)
--- 1 19 24 19 18 18 16 15 19 --- 0 334 0 0 38 0 8 0 2
                                         
Virtual status and level                                        
All virtual schools5,6 --- --- --- --- --- --- 477 576 592 562 --- --- --- --- --- --- 200,343 229,608 234,148 212,311
Elementary2 --- --- --- --- --- --- 65 77 74 68 --- --- --- --- --- --- 14,277 19,341 19,064 14,669
Secondary3 --- --- --- --- --- --- 100 132 144 132 --- --- --- --- --- --- 18,625 29,303 32,535 23,355
Combined elementary/
    secondary4 
--- --- --- --- --- --- 310 366 373 361 --- --- --- --- --- --- 167,441 180,964 182,549 174,287
Other (not classified
    by grade span)
--- --- --- --- --- --- 2 1 1 1 --- --- --- --- --- --- 0 0 0 0
---Not available.
1 Includes schools that provide nontraditional education, address needs of students that typically cannot be met in regular schools, serve as adjuncts to regular schools, or fall outside the categories of regular, special education, or vocational education.
2 Includes schools beginning with grade 6 or below and with no grade higher than 8.
3 Includes schools with no grade lower than 7.
4 Includes schools beginning with grade 6 or below and ending with grade 9 or above.
5 Magnet, charter, and virtual schools are also included under regular, special education, vocational, or alternative schools as appropriate.
6 Virtual schools are defined as having instruction during which students and teachers are separated by time and/or location and interact via internet-connected computers or other electronic devices.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 1990-91 through 2016-17. (This table was prepared June 2019.)

2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest