Number and percentage distribution of public elementary and secondary students and schools, by traditional or charter school status and selected characteristics: School years 2012-13 and 2022-23

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Table 216.30.Number and percentage distribution of public elementary and secondary students and schools, by traditional or charter school status and selected characteristics: School years 2012-13 and 2022-23
Selected characteristic	2012-13			2022-23
Selected characteristic	Total, all public schools	Traditional (noncharter) schools	Charter schools	Total, all public schools		Traditional (noncharter) schools		Charter schools
1	2	3	4	5		6		7
Fall enrollment (in thousands)	49,520	47,250	2,269	48,861		45,143		3,718

Percentage distribution of students
Sex	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Male	51.4	51.4	49.6	51.3		51.5		49.8
Female	48.6	48.6	50.4	48.7		48.5		50.2

Race/ethnicity	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
American Indian/Alaska Native	1.1	1.1	0.8	0.9		0.9		0.7
Asian/Pacific Islander	5.1	5.2	4.2	5.8		5.9		4.7
Asian	4.8	4.8	3.7	5.5		5.6		4.3
Pacific Islander	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4		0.4		0.4
Black	15.6	15.1	27.7	15.0		14.2		24.4
Hispanic	24.3	24.1	29.2	28.5		27.8		36.8
White	51.1	51.8	35.3	44.8		46.1		28.6
Two or more races	2.8	2.8	2.9	5.0		5.0		4.8

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program¹	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
0 to 25.0	20.6	20.6	19.5	18.4		18.8		12.7
25.1 to 50.0	27.8	28.2	19.8	27.8		28.6		19.1
50.1 to 75.0	27.1	27.4	22.0	26.8		27.2		22.6
More than 75.0	23.7	23.1	35.5	24.9		24.2		34.3
Missing/school does not participate	0.8	0.7	3.1	2.0		1.3		11.3

Number of teachers	3,014,059	2,897,674	116,384	3,172,098		2,974,889		197,209
Pupil/teacher ratio²	16.4	16.3	17.8	15.4		15.3		17.3

Total number of schools	98,454	92,375	6,079	99,388		91,390		7,998

Percentage distribution of schools
School level	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Prekindergarten	1.1	1.2	0.4	1.6		1.7		0.3
Elementary	53.2	53.7	45.4	52.8		53.3		47.0
Middle	16.8	17.2	11.4	16.4		16.9		10.2
Secondary and high	23.7	23.4	29.1	24.0		23.6		27.5
Other, ungraded, and not applicable/not reported	5.2	4.6	13.7	5.3		4.4		15.0

Size of enrollment	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Less than 300	30.4	28.8	54.0	31.9		30.9		43.4
300 to 499	27.5	27.7	23.6	29.2		29.7		24.3
500 to 999	33.1	34.1	18.0	29.8		30.3		24.4
1,000 or more	9.1	9.4	4.4	9.0		9.1		7.9

Racial/ethnic concentration
More than 50 percent Black	10.3	9.3	24.9	9.3		8.2		21.6
More than 50 percent Hispanic	15.4	14.9	22.6	18.5		17.4		30.8
More than 50 percent White	58.9	60.4	36.6	51.0		53.1		27.0
No majority racial/ethnic group	13.8	13.8	14.3	19.4		19.5		18.8

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program¹	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
0 to 25.0	19.2	19.3	18.3	16.3		16.6		12.6
25.1 to 50.0	26.0	26.4	18.7	25.4		26.0		17.6
50.1 to 75.0	27.3	27.7	21.2	25.8		26.1		22.4
More than 75.0	24.5	23.7	37.7	25.8		24.8		36.5
Missing/school does not participate	3.0	2.9	4.0	6.7		6.4		10.8

Locale	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
City	27.0	25.0	56.7	27.2	³	24.9	³	56.4	³
Suburban	31.4	31.8	25.5	31.2	³	31.9	³	25.7	³
Town	13.7	14.2	7.0	13.0	³	13.7	³	5.9	³
Rural	27.9	29.0	10.8	27.9	³	29.5	³	12.0	³

Region	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Northeast	15.5	15.9	10.0	15.0		15.4		9.9
Midwest	25.9	26.2	21.9	26.0		26.6		20.0
South	34.9	35.2	30.7	34.8		34.8		35.4
West	23.6	22.7	37.3	24.2		23.3		34.6
¹The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program. To be eligible for free lunch under the program, a student must be from a household with an income at or below 130 percent of the poverty threshold; to be eligible for reduced-price lunch, a student must be from a household with an income between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty threshold. The free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) counts show large shifts in the last several years in some states. These changes were due to (1) the Seamless Summer Option, which allowed schools to provide meals to all students, regardless of demonstrated need, beginning October 1, 2020, and (2) the shift away from in-person instruction (particularly for school year 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic), which may have caused a decrease in the number of students applying for FRPL because they were not present to apply for it.
²Pupil/teacher ratio based on schools that reported both enrollment and teacher data.
³Excludes schools with missing locale information. There were 1,068 schools in the 2022-23 data that had missing 2021-22 locale information (the most recent data available when this table was tabulated), representing about 1 percent of all schools.
NOTE: Data in this table represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Because the data reflect reports by schools, totals differ from those in tables based on reports by states or school districts.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 2012-13 and 2022-23; and Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE), "Public School File," 2012-13 and 2021-22. (This table was prepared December 2023.)

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