School District
From Sunshine Review
Contents |
Purpose
School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools. They exist mostly in the United States, where they operate nearly all government-funded schools.
Authority
Public education in many communities in the USA has been made the function of a school district serving one or more towns. A school district is a unique body corporate and politic, usually with districts being coequal to that of a city or a county, and has similar powers including taxation and eminent domain. Its legislative body, elected by direct popular vote or by appointment by other governmental officials, is called a School Board, board of trustees, or school committee, and this body appoints a superintendent, usually an experienced public school administrator, to function as the district's chief executive for carrying out day-to-day decisions and policy implementations. The school board may also exercise a quasi-judicial function in serious employee or student discipline matters.[1]
Exceptions
Not all school systems constitute school districts as distinct bodies corporate. A few states have no school systems independent of county or municipal governments. One prominent example is Maryland, where all school systems are run at the county or, in the case of Baltimore City, the county-equivalent level. Other states, such as New York, have both independent school districts and school systems that are subordinate to cities. Uniquely, the Hawaii State Department of Education functions as a single state-wide school district.[2]
Statistics
In the 2002 Census of Governments, the United States Census Bureau enumerated the following numbers of school systems in the United States:
- 1,196 education service agencies
- 1,330 local-dependent school systems
- 13,506 school district governments
- 178 state-dependent school systems[3]
Economic Influence
The functioning of a school district can be a key influence and concern in local politics. A well run district with safe and clean schools, graduating enough students to good universities, can enhance the value of housing in its area, and thus increase the amount of tax revenue available to carry out its operations. Conversely, a poorly-run district may cause growth in the area to be far less than surrounding areas, or even a decline in population. In recent years, poorly-run schools or districts, particularly in affluent areas and major cities, have sometimes been converted into charter schools.[4]
In addition to the various schools it operates and the various support facilities they require for their operation, such as school bus yards, laundries, warehouses, and kitchens, some very large school districts operate medical clinics, television stations (many of which are official CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS or NPR affiliates for their respective markets), and fully functioning campus police departments. Additionally it is not unusual to find public libraries or recreation programs operated by a school system.
External links
- "2002 Government Census"
- "U.S. School Districts online"
- "School District Demographic System"
- "Midwest Political Science Association"
