Public education in the United States

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Public education in the United States is mainly the province of state and local governments, which provide most of the funding and administrative oversight of public schools for kindergarten through grade 12. The public school system operates mainly within school districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2013 the United States had 49,771,118 students enrolled in a total of 98,454 schools in 18,093 school districts. There were 3,109,101 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 16 students. There was roughly one administrator for every 295 students. The average amount of spending for each pupil was $10,700 in 2013, and the average graduation rate was 81.4 percent in 2013.^[1][2][3][4]

Throughout the United States, spending and student achievement varied greatly. However, greater spending per pupil did not necessarily mean better graduation rates or standardized test scores, and vice versa.

Organization

Federal level

The federal government does not exercise direct authority over the nation's education system -- instead, states and local communities are responsible for their educational institutions. According to the United States Department of Education, the federal government's role in education is limited to the following general responsibilities:^[5]

“	Exercising leadership in promoting educational policies and reform efforts of national scope Administering federal assistance programs authorized and appropriated by Congress Enforcing federal civil rights laws as they pertain to education Providing information and statistics about education at the national and international levels Providing technical expertise to the United States Department of State, United States Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies and Executive Office of the President in conducting the foreign affairs of the United States as these pertain to education and within the limited scope of federal power in this area[6]	”
—United States Department of Education

State level

State governments are responsible for direct oversight of the education systems in their states, including execution of necessary political, administrative and fiscal functions. General responsibilities of the states include:^[7]

“	Providing funding for public education at all levels Licensing or chartering private schools and public and private institutions of higher education Providing oversight and guidance to local school boards Setting broad policies for school-level curricula, texts, standards, and assessments (but not higher education) Overseeing the provision of educational services for persons living with disabilities, adults needing basic education services, and other special needs populations Setting the standards for examining and licensing persons seeking to work in any regulated professional occupation Electing or appointing some or all of the members of the governing boards of public higher education institutions and state boards of education[6]	”
—United States Department of Education

Local level

Local school boards are responsible for the actual operation of public schools. General responsibilities at the local level include:^[8]

“	Implementing and enforcing state laws and policies Developing and implementing their own educational policies Hiring and supervising professional teaching staffs Raising money for pay for schools (usually through property taxes plus special bond issues)[6]	”
—United States Department of Education

Agencies

U.S. Department of Education

The United States Department of Education is an executive department established in 1980. The department was formed to promote educational excellence and ensure equal opportunity for public schooling. The department is led by the current Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.^[9]

The department employed 4,400 employees in 2013. The operating budget for fiscal year 2013 was $65.7 billion. The department implements laws passed by Congress and administers grants to states for certain programs, such as No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and Title One School Improvement Grants.^[9][10][11]

National Center for Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity responsible for collecting and analyzing data related to education. NCES is located within the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences and "fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally." The Director of the Institute of Education Sciences and Acting Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics is James Q Easton.^[12]

General information

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

Note: The statistics on this page are mainly from government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures given were the most recent available as of June 2015, with school years noted in the text or footnotes.

The following table summarizes key data relating to the nation's public education system, including the number of students and schools, teacher/student and administrator/student ratios, and per pupil spending for the 2012-2013 school year. For added context, corresponding data from the states with the highest and lowest per pupil education expenditures (New York and Utah, respectively) are also provided.

Regional comparison, 2012-2013
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher to pupil ratio	Admin. to pupil ratio	Per pupil spending*
United States	98,454	18,093	49,771,118	3,109,101	1:16	1:294.1	$10,608
Utah	995	132	613,279	26,610	1:23	1:449.1	$6,206
New York	4,822	950	2,710,703	207,060	1:13.1	1:296.4	$19,552
*Per pupil spending data reflects information reported for fiscal year 2012. Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2 - Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher, and pupil teacher ratio, by state: School year 2012–13," accessed May 27, 2015 United States Census, "Public Education Finances: 2012," accessed May 27, 2015

Schools by type

See also: Number of schools by school type in the United States

The table below breaks down each of the different types of schools in the and nearby states. Of the 98,454 schools in the United States, 89,031 were classified as regular schools. After regular schools, charter schools and alternative schools were the most prevalent nontraditional schools in the country, at 6,079 and 5,986, respectively.

Also listed are the numbers of schools in each state that are classified as "Title I" schools. These are public schools that have been specially targeted to correct achievement gaps in public schools.^[13]

Number of schools by type, 2012-2013
State	Total schools	Regular	Special education	Vocational	Alternative	Charter	Magnet	Title 1
United States	98,454	89,031	2,034	1,403	5,986	6,079	3,151	68,140
Utah	995	897	69	3	26	88	23	297
New York	4,822	4,644	123	29	26	211	‡	4,429
† Not applicable. Some states/jurisdictions do not have charter school authorization and some states/jurisdictions do not designate magnet schools. ‡ Reporting standards were not met due to data that were missing for more than 20 percent of schools in the state or jurisdiction. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," SY 2012–13 Provisional Version 1a, accessed May 29, 2015

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in the United States as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2012-2013.^[14]

During the 2012-2013 school year, about 25,366,857 students, or just over half of all students in K-12 public schools, were white. Approximately 12,064,310 students, which was about a quarter of the students in the country, were Hispanic, with black students making up about another 16 percent of the student population.

Public education enrollment by race/ethnicity, 2012-2013
State	Pop. category	Am. Indian	Asian	Black	Hawaiian Nat./Pac. Islander	Hispanic	White	Two or more races
United States	Number	533,098	2,363,484	7,798,560	179,935	12,064,310	25,366,857	1,390,514
	Percentage	1.07%	4.76%	15.69%	.36%	24.28%	51.04%	2.8%
Utah	Number	7,337	10,581	7,983	9,245	96,048	471,509	10,576
	Percentage	1.2%	1.73%	1.3%	1.51%	15.66%	76.88%	1.72%
New York	Number	15,243	230,687	495,291	5,699	649,568	1,280,689	33,526
	Percentage	.56%	8.51%	18.27%	.21%	23.96%	47.25%	1.24%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity. Source: United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey, 2012-2013," accessed May 26, 2015

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 30 percent of all public school students in the country attended city schools during the 2012-2013 school year. About 40 percent attended suburban schools. Approximately 11.5 percent of all students attended schools in towns, while the approximately 18.7 percent remaining attended rural schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2012-2013 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
United States	30%	39.8%	11.5%	18.7%
Utah	16.4%	62.3%	11.2%	10.1%
New York	43.9%	37.5%	6.6%	11.9%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," SY 2012–13 Provisional Version 1a, accessed May 28, 2015

Performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
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NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The chart below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. For added context, corresponding data from the states with the highest and lowest per pupil education expenditures (New York and Utah, respectively) are also provided. For a state-by-state breakdown of data, see NAEP scores by state.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
United States	41%	34%	34%	34%
Utah	44%	36%	37%	39%
New York	40%	32%	37%	35%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for the United States, Utah, and New York.^[15][16][17]

In the United States, public school graduation rates averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.^[18]

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
United States	81.4%	N/A	20.9	54%	1498	50%
Utah	83%	Third	20.7	100%	1684	6%
New York	76.8%	Fourth	23.4	26%	1463	76%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express," accessed May 28, 2015 ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 28, 2015 The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013," accessed May 28, 2015

Dropout rate

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012.^[19]

Comparison of financial figures

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), states spent an average of 19.8 percent of their total budgets on elementary and secondary education during fiscal year 2013. In addition, the Census bureau found that approximately 45.6 percent of the country's school system revenue came from state sources, while about 45.3 percent came from local sources. The remaining portion of school system revenue came from federal sources.^[20][21]

The two states with the lowest and highest per pupil spending (Utah and New York, respectively) have been listed for context.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems, fiscal year 2013
State	Percent of budget	Per pupil spending	Revenue sources
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
United States	19.8%	$10,700	9.1%	45.6%	45.3%
Utah	23.6%	$6,555	9.5%	52%	38.5%
New York	19.3%	$19,818	5.6%	39.8%	54.6%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report" (Table 8). U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2013, Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division Reports" (Table 5 and Table 8).

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S. to compare all states.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, public school system revenues totaled approximately $598 billion in fiscal year 2013.^[21]

The primary source of school system revenue in the United States was state funding, at $273 billion. About $270 billion came from local sources. The two states with the lowest and highest per pupil spending (Utah and New York, respectively) have been listed for context. See the chart and graph below for additional comparisons.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2013 (amounts in thousands)
State	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
United States	$54,367,305	$272,916,892	$270,645,402	$597,929,599
Utah	$409,774	$2,235,917	$1,656,221	$4,301,912
New York	$3,335,657	$23,632,698	$32,430,464	$59,398,819
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2013, Economic Reimbursable Surveys Division Reports" (Table 1)

\| \n <pbars size=650x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Federal revenue,State revenue,Local revenue U.S. total,9.1,45.6,45.3 Utah,9.5,52,38.5 New York,5.6,39.8,54.6 </pbars>

Public school revenues by source, fiscal year 2013 (as percents)

Expenditures breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures totaled approximately $602 billion in fiscal year 2012. The two states with the lowest and highest per pupil spending (Utah and New York, respectively) have been listed for context. See the chart and graph below for additional comparisons.^[22]

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2012 (amounts in thousands)
State	General expenditures	Capital outlay	Other	Total expenditures
United States	$527,096,473	$48,773,386	$25,897,123	$601,766,981
Utah	$3,779,760	$746,262	$264,051	$4,790,073
New York	$52,460,494	$2,097,414	$3,538,973	$58,096,880
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, "Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2011–12 (Fiscal Year 2012)" (Table 5)

\| \n <pbars size=650x250 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Current expenditures,Capital outlay,Other U.S. total,87.59,8.11,4.30 Utah,78.91,15.58,5.51 New York,90.30,3.61,6.09 </pbars>

Public school expenditures, fiscal year 2012 (as percents)

Teacher salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. For added context, corresponding data from the states with the highest and lowest per pupil education expenditures (New York and Utah, respectively) are also provided. For a state-by-state breakdown, see "Public school teacher salaries in the U.S."^[23]

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
United States	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.30%
Utah	$47,757	$48,980	$48,961	$49,393	3.40%
New York	$69,723	$76,464	$74,620	$75,279	8.00%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

School choice

See also: School choice by state

Educational choice options in the U.S. include, but are not limited to:

• School vouchers: School vouchers are government-funded scholarships that allow public school students to attend private schools. Vouchers redirect a state's per-pupil education funding, giving it directly to families instead of school districts. Voucher programs exist in 13 states and the District of Columbia.
• Charter schools: Charter schools are public schools operated independently of the public school system, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum. Because they are public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or have special entrance requirements.
• Public school choice: States may have open enrollment policies in place, which allow students to transfer to public schools other than those to which they are assigned. Under intra-district open enrollment policies, students may transfer out of their assigned schools to other schools within their home districts. Under inter-district open enrollment policies, students may transfer to schools outside of their home districts.

In the news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Education K-12. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

• Historical public education information in the United States
• Education policy in the United States

External links

• United States Department of Education
  • Official blog
  • Official Facebook page
  • Official Twitter page
  • Official YouTube channel
• National Center for Educational Statistics
• National School Board Association
• American School Board Journal

Footnotes

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