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 2018-19

School level, type, and charter, magnet, or virtual status	Number of schools										Fall enrollment
	1990-91	2000-01	2005-06	2010-11	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	1990-91	2000-01	2005-06	2010-11	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	30	21
Total, all schools	84,538	93,273	97,382	98,817	98,271	98,176	98,277	98,158	98,469	98,755	41,141,366	47,060,714	48,912,085	49,177,617	49,777,410	50,009,771	50,115,178	50,274,747	50,330,241	50,330,883
School type
Regular	80,395	85,422	87,585	88,929	89,183	89,386	89,501	89,527	89,914	90,019	40,599,943	46,194,730	47,957,375	48,259,245	48,863,752	49,178,890	49,313,134	49,468,870	49,531,526	49,534,589
Special education	1,932	2,008	2,128	2,206	2,010	1,954	2,005	1,991	1,903	2,061	209,145	174,577	222,497	190,910	214,611	186,269	180,155	184,261	185,073	180,523
Vocational	1,060	1,025	1,221	1,485	1,380	1,387	1,396	1,391	1,467	1,507	198,117	199,669	217,621	164,013	148,447	147,550	146,321	146,601	147,516	158,088
Alternative1	1,151	4,818	6,448	6,197	5,698	5,449	5,375	5,249	5,185	5,168	134,161	491,738	514,592	563,449	550,600	497,062	475,568	475,015	466,126	457,683
School level and type
Elementary2	59,015	64,601	66,026	67,086	67,034	67,073	66,758	66,837	67,408	67,606	26,503,677	30,673,453	31,104,018	31,581,751	32,226,881	32,225,908	32,035,708	32,132,682	32,346,383	32,267,239
Regular	58,440	63,674	64,996	65,874	65,948	66,036	65,734	65,853	66,436	66,582	26,400,740	30,582,610	31,003,942	31,441,027	32,083,759	32,116,995	31,930,363	32,034,365	32,241,347	32,169,388
Special education	419	496	508	587	543	578	568	551	555	601	58,204	42,127	49,652	58,987	62,596	54,161	50,508	43,555	52,522	49,547
Vocational	31	8	8	16	7	6	5	5	4	1	17,686	2,409	1,713	3,495	1,791	1,749	1,729	1,960	1,831	148
Alternative1	125	423	514	609	536	453	451	428	413	422	27,047	46,307	48,711	78,242	78,735	53,003	53,108	52,802	50,683	48,156
Secondary3	21,135	21,994	23,998	24,544	24,067	24,181	24,040	23,814	23,816	23,872	13,569,787	15,038,171	16,219,309	15,692,610	15,640,128	15,731,561	15,748,184	15,798,446	15,759,707	15,739,601
Regular	19,459	18,456	19,252	19,449	19,411	19,441	19,325	19,264	19,171	19,103	13,313,097	14,567,969	15,685,032	15,197,786	15,167,671	15,270,834	15,296,173	15,355,391	15,324,419	15,305,194
Special education	165	219	368	359	331	339	313	316	296	317	11,913	12,607	42,696	27,990	28,312	24,729	21,929	21,700	21,710	18,613
Vocational	1,010	997	1,185	1,387	1,311	1,318	1,329	1,332	1,427	1,464	174,105	193,981	209,762	154,088	144,066	144,042	142,611	142,332	142,915	155,241
Alternative1	501	2,322	3,193	3,349	3,014	3,083	3,073	2,902	2,922	2,988	70,672	263,614	281,819	312,746	300,079	291,956	287,471	279,023	270,663	260,553
Combined elementary/     secondary4	2,325	5,096	5,707	6,137	6,189	6,347	6,788	6,783	6,344	6,586	925,887	1,266,778	1,526,186	1,897,712	1,898,252	2,049,039	2,329,346	2,335,618	2,216,403	2,321,676
Regular	1,784	2,780	3,121	3,363	3,446	3,713	4,236	4,236	3,936	4,060	855,814	1,007,368	1,263,952	1,620,031	1,611,918	1,790,208	2,085,918	2,078,659	1,965,052	2,059,685
Special education	376	715	735	964	940	935	923	907	877	951	43,992	86,253	91,966	99,120	111,958	106,500	107,658	112,826	105,334	111,202
Vocational	19	20	28	82	62	63	62	54	36	42	6,326	3,279	6,146	6,430	2,590	1,759	1,981	2,309	2,770	2,699
Alternative1	146	1,581	1,823	1,728	1,741	1,636	1,567	1,586	1,495	1,533	19,755	169,878	164,122	172,131	171,786	150,572	133,789	141,824	143,247	148,090
Other (not classified by     grade span)	2,063	1,582	1,651	1,050	981	575	691	724	901	691	142,015	82,312	62,572	5,544	12,149	3,263	1,940	8,001	7,748	2,367
Regular	712	512	216	243	378	196	206	174	371	274	30,292	36,783	4,449	401	404	853	680	455	708	322
Special education	972	578	517	296	196	102	201	217	175	192	95,036	33,590	38,183	4,813	11,745	879	60	6,180	5,507	1,161
Vocational5	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	407	277	284	333	355	225	16,687	11,939	19,940	330	0	1,531	1,200	1,366	1,533	884
Charter status and level
All charter schools6	---	1,993	3,780	5,274	6,465	6,747	6,855	7,011	7,193	7,427	---	448,343	1,012,906	1,787,091	2,522,022	2,721,786	2,845,322	3,010,287	3,143,269	3,290,149
Elementary2	---	1,011	1,969	2,866	3,634	3,851	3,854	3,934	4,064	4,173	---	249,101	532,217	905,575	1,288,568	1,405,015	1,448,523	1,511,812	1,601,350	1,670,404
Secondary3	---	467	1,057	1,368	1,522	1,563	1,576	1,618	1,667	1,680	---	79,588	219,627	341,534	443,423	467,231	482,296	504,301	539,890	550,866
Combined elementary/     secondary4	---	448	704	1,027	1,268	1,330	1,406	1,454	1,458	1,530	---	117,377	259,837	539,653	789,883	848,875	914,110	994,021	1,001,788	1,068,777
Other (not classified     by grade span)	---	67	50	13	41	3	19	5	4	44	---	2,277	1,225	329	148	665	393	153	241	102
Magnet status and level
All magnet schools6	---	1,469	2,736	2,722	3,254	3,285	3,237	3,164	3,421	3,484	---	1,213,976	2,103,013	2,055,133	2,556,644	2,609,104	2,604,145	2,537,011	2,665,820	2,672,473
Elementary2	---	1,111	1,994	1,849	2,164	2,216	2,135	2,087	2,307	2,356	---	704,763	1,186,160	1,035,288	1,300,317	1,312,571	1,281,873	1,266,076	1,370,347	1,396,372
Secondary3	---	328	643	746	939	911	884	853	931	945	---	484,684	869,010	944,434	1,178,272	1,207,248	1,188,316	1,141,181	1,184,412	1,164,040
Combined elementary/     secondary4	---	29	80	103	133	142	203	205	165	169	---	24,529	47,509	75,411	78,055	89,277	133,956	129,752	111,056	112,059
Other (not classified     by grade span)	---	1	19	24	18	16	15	19	18	14	---	0	334	0	0	8	0	2	5	2
Virtual status and level
All virtual schools6,7	---	---	---	---	477	576	592	562	656	675	---	---	---	---	200,343	229,608	234,148	212,311	278,783	289,614
Elementary2	---	---	---	---	65	77	74	68	77	78	---	---	---	---	14,277	19,341	19,064	14,669	20,941	15,551
Secondary3	---	---	---	---	100	132	144	132	159	177	---	---	---	---	18,625	29,303	32,535	23,355	36,505	40,909
Combined elementary/     secondary4	---	---	---	---	310	366	373	361	415	419	---	---	---	---	167,441	180,964	182,549	174,287	221,337	233,154
Other (not classified     by grade span)	---	---	---	---	2	1	1	1	5	1	---	---	---	---	0	0	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 Ungraded vocational schools are classified as secondary schools.

6 Magnet, charter, and virtual schools are also included under regular, special education, vocational, or alternative schools as appropriate.

7 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.

NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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 2018-19. (This table was prepared September 2020.)