HIFLD OPEN Elementary School Districts

Project Title:  View help for Project Title HIFLD OPEN Elementary School Districts

Summary:  View help for Summary School Districts are administrative units within which local officials provide public educational services for the area's residents. The Census Bureau obtains school district boundaries, names, local education agency codes, grade ranges, and school district levels annually from state education officials. The Census Bureau collects this information for the primary purpose of providing the U.S. Department of Education with annual estimates of the number of children aged 5 through 17 in families in poverty within each school district, county, and state. This information serves as the basis for the Department of Education to determine the annual allocation of Title I funding to states and school districts. The Census Bureau tabulates data for four types of school districts: elementary, secondary, unified, and administrative. Each school district is assigned a five-digit code that is unique within state. School district codes are the local education agency number assigned by the Department of Education and are not necessarily in alphabetical order by school district name.Unified school districts provide education to children of all school ages. In general, if there is a unified school district, no elementary or secondary school district exists. If there is an elementary school district, the secondary school district may or may not exist. Administrative school districts were added in 2022 and provide administrative, planning, and educational services for all grade ranges. Currently, the Census Bureau maintains administrative school districts only in Vermont, and they represent supervisory unions and supervisory districts.The Census Bureau categorizes school districts based on the grade ranges for which the school district is financially responsible. These may or may not be the same as the grade ranges that a school district operates. A typical example would be a school district that operates schools for children in grades Kindergarten (KG)-8 and pays a neighboring school district to educate children in grades 9-12. The first school district is operationally responsible for grades KG-8, but financially responsible for grades KG-12. Therefore, the Census Bureau would define the grade range for that school district as KG-12. If an elementary school district is financially responsible for grades KG-12 or Pre-Kindergarten (PK)-12, there will be no secondary school district represented for that area. In cases, where an elementary school district is financially responsible for only lower grades, there is generally a secondary school district that is financially responsible for providing educational services for the upper grades.

Original Distribution URL:  View help for Original Distribution URL https://hifld-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms HIFLD Open; GIS; School Districts; education; school

Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States

Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 8/28/2024 – 8/28/2024

Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data

Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes Archived from the HIFLD Open GIS data repository, which was deactivated on August 26, 2025.