Number of public school districts and public and private elementary and secondary schools: Selected years, 1869-70 through 2017-18

(49KB)

Table 214.10.

School year	Regular public school dis- tricts¹		Total, all public and private schools	Public schools²					Private schools^2,3
				Total, all public schools⁴	Total, schools with reported grade spans⁵	Schools with elementary grades		Schools with secondary grades	Total, all private schools⁴		Schools with elementary grades		Schools with secondary grades
				Total, all public schools⁴	Total, schools with reported grade spans⁵	Total	One-teacher⁶	Schools with secondary grades	Total, all private schools⁴		Schools with elementary grades		Schools with secondary grades
1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9		10		11
1869-70	---		---	116,312	---	---	---	---	---		---		---
1879-80	---		---	178,122	---	---	---	---	---		---		---
1889-90	---		---	224,526	---	---	---	---	---		---		---
1899-1900	---		---	248,279	---	---	---	---	---		---		---
1909-10	---		---	265,474	---	---	212,448	---	---		---		---
1919-20	---		---	271,319	---	---	187,948	---	---		---		---
1929-30	---		---	248,117	---	238,306	148,712	23,930	---		9,275	⁷	3,258	⁷
1939-40	117,108	⁸	---	226,762	---	---	113,600	---	---		11,306	⁷	3,568	⁷
1949-50	83,718	⁸	---	---	---	128,225	59,652	24,542	---		10,375	⁷	3,331	⁷
1959-60	40,520	⁸	---	---	---	91,853	20,213	25,784	---		13,574	⁷	4,061	⁷
1961-62	35,676	⁸	125,634	107,260	---	81,910	13,333	25,350	18,374		14,762	⁷	4,129	⁷
1963-64	31,705	⁸	---	104,015	---	77,584	9,895	26,431	---		---		4,451	⁷
1965-66	26,983	⁸	117,662	99,813	---	73,216	6,491	26,597	17,849	⁷	15,340	⁷	4,606	⁷
1967-68	22,010	⁸	---	---	94,197	70,879	4,146	27,011	---		---		---
1970-71	17,995	⁸	---	---	89,372	65,800	1,815	25,352	---		14,372	⁷	3,770	⁷
1973-74	16,730	⁸	---	---	88,655	65,070	1,365	25,906	---		---		---
1975-76	16,376	⁸	---	88,597	87,034	63,242	1,166	25,330	---		---		---
1976-77	16,271	⁸	---	---	86,501	62,644	1,111	25,378	19,910	⁷	16,385	⁷	5,904	⁷
1978-79	16,014	⁸	---	---	84,816	61,982	1,056	24,504	19,489	⁷	16,097	⁷	5,766	⁷
1979-80	15,944	⁸	---	87,004	---	---	---	---	---		---		---
1980-81	15,912	⁸	106,746	85,982	83,688	61,069	921	24,362	20,764	⁷	16,792	⁷	5,678	⁷
1982-83	15,824	⁸	---	84,740	82,039	59,656	798	23,988	---		---		---
1983-84	15,747	⁸	111,872	84,178	81,418	59,082	838	23,947	27,694		20,872		7,862
1984-85	---		---	84,007	81,147	58,827	825	23,916	---		---		---
1985-86	---		---	---	---	---	---	---	25,616		20,252		7,387
1986-87	15,713		---	83,421	82,316	60,811	763	23,481	---		---		---
1987-88	15,577		110,055	83,248	81,416	59,754	729	23,841	26,807		22,959		8,418
1988-89	15,376		---	83,165	81,579	60,176	583	23,638	---		---		---
1989-90	15,367		110,137	83,425	81,880	60,699	630	23,461	26,712		24,221		10,197
1990-91	15,358		109,228	84,538	82,475	61,340	617	23,460	24,690		22,223		8,989
1991-92	15,173		110,576	84,578	82,506	61,739	569	23,248	25,998		23,523		9,282
1992-93	15,025		---	84,497	82,896	62,225	430	23,220	---		---		---
1993-94	14,881		111,486	85,393	83,431	62,726	442	23,379	26,093		23,543		10,555
1994-95	14,772		---	86,221	84,476	63,572	458	23,668	---		---		---
1995-96	14,766		121,519	87,125	84,958	63,961	474	23,793	34,394		32,401		10,942
1996-97	14,841		---	88,223	86,092	64,785	487	24,287	---		---		---
1997-98	14,805		123,403	89,508	87,541	65,859	476	24,802	33,895		31,408		10,779
1998-99	14,891		---	90,874	89,259	67,183	463	25,797	---		---		---
1999-2000	14,928		125,007	92,012	90,538	68,173	423	26,407	32,995		30,457		10,693
2000-01	14,859		---	93,273	91,691	69,697	411	27,090	---		---		---
2001-02	14,559		130,007	94,112	92,696	70,516	408	27,468	35,895		33,191		11,846
2002-03	14,465		---	95,615	93,869	71,270	366	28,151	---		---		---
2003-04	14,383		130,407	95,726	93,977	71,195	376	28,219	34,681		31,988		11,188
2004-05	14,205		---	96,513	95,001	71,556	338	29,017	---		---		---
2005-06	14,166		132,436	97,382	95,731	71,733	326	29,705	35,054		32,127		12,184
2006-07	13,856		---	98,793	96,362	72,442	313	29,904	---		---		---
2007-08	13,838		132,656	98,916	97,654	73,011	288	30,542	33,740		30,808		11,870
2008-09	13,809		---	98,706	97,119	72,771	237	29,971	---		---		---
2009-10	13,625		132,183	98,817	97,521	72,870	217	30,381	33,366		30,590		11,941
2010-11	13,588		---	98,817	97,767	73,223	224	30,681	---		---		---
2011-12	13,567		129,189	98,328	97,357	73,000	205	30,668	30,861		28,184		11,165
2012-13	13,515		---	98,454	97,331	73,037	196	30,623	---		---		---
2013-14	13,491		131,890	98,271	97,290	73,223	193	30,256	33,619		30,919		11,110
2014-15	13,601		---	98,176	97,601	73,420	165	30,528	---		---		---
2015-16	13,584		132,853	98,277	97,586	73,546	197	30,828	34,576		31,630		12,669
2016-17	13,598		---	98,158	97,434	73,620	203	30,597	---		---		---
2017-18	13,551		130,930	98,469	97,568	73,686	188	30,160	32,461		29,616		12,371

---Not available.

¹ Regular districts exclude regional education service agencies and supervisory union administrative centers, state-operated agencies, federally operated agencies, and other types of local education agencies, such as independent charter schools.

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

³ Data for most years prior to 1976-77 are partly estimated. Prior to 1995-96, excludes schools with highest grade of kindergarten.

⁴ Includes schools not classified by grade span, which are not shown separately.

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

⁶ Excludes alternative schools, academies, hospitals, virtual schools, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities.

⁷ These data cannot be compared directly with the data for years after 1980-81.

⁸ Because of expanded survey coverage, data are not directly comparable with data for years after 1983-84.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1870 through 1910; Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1919-20 through 1949-50; Statistics of State School Systems, 1951-52 through 1967-68; Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Systems, 1970-71 through 1980-81; Statistics of Public and Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Day Schools, 1968-69; Statistics of Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1970-71; Private Schools in American Education; Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), "Private School Questionnaire," 1987-88 and 1990-91; Private School Universe Survey (PSS), 1989-90 through 2017-18; and Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency Universe Survey" and "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 1982-83 through 2017-18. (This table was prepared February 2020.)

2019 Tables and Figures

All Years of Tables and Figures

Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Download Excel Excel format

(49KB)