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 2011-12 and 2021-22

Selected characteristic	2011-12			2021-22
	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)	49,256	47,199	2,058	49,090		45,415		3,675
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		51.4		49.8
Female	48.6	48.6	50.4	48.7		48.6		50.2
Race/ethnicity	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
White	51.7	52.4	35.6	45.3		46.5		29.4
Black	15.8	15.2	28.7	14.9		14.2		24.4
Hispanic	23.7	23.6	28.0	28.4		27.8		36.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	5.1	5.1	4.0	5.8		5.8		4.7
Asian	4.7	4.8	3.5	5.4		5.5		4.3
Pacific Islander	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4		0.4		0.4
American Indian/Alaska Native	1.1	1.1	0.9	0.9		0.9		0.7
Two or more races	2.6	2.6	2.8	4.7		4.7		4.7
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	23.7	23.8	21.9	24.2		24.8		17.3
25.1 to 50.0	27.6	28.0	18.4	28.8		29.4		20.5
50.1 to 75.0	25.2	25.4	21.0	21.9		21.9		22.6
More than 75.0	18.9	18.3	30.8	21.5		20.7		31.3
Missing/school does not participate	4.6	4.4	7.9	3.6		3.3		8.3
Number of teachers	3,028,283	2,920,353	107,929	3,139,258	2	2,948,111	2	191,146	2
Pupil/teacher ratio3	16.3	16.3	17.6	15.4		15.2		17.3
Total number of schools	98,328	92,632	5,696	99,239		91,392		7,847
Percentage distribution of schools
School level	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Prekindergarten	1.1	1.1	0.5	1.5		1.7		0.3
Elementary	53.3	53.8	44.7	52.9		53.3		47.2
Middle	17.1	17.4	12.2	16.4		16.9		10.4
Secondary and high	23.6	23.3	28.7	23.9		23.6		27.3
Other, ungraded, and not applicable/not reported	4.9	4.4	13.9	5.3		4.4		14.8
Size of enrollment	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Less than 300	30.5	28.9	55.8	32.0		31.0		43.5
300 to 499	27.7	28.0	23.1	29.5		29.9		24.7
500 to 999	32.8	33.8	17.0	29.5		30.0		24.2
1,000 or more	9.0	9.3	4.2	9.0		9.1		7.6
Racial/ethnic concentration
More than 50 percent White	59.7	61.1	37.5	51.5		53.6		28.1
More than 50 percent Black	10.3	9.4	25.3	9.3		8.3		21.6
More than 50 percent Hispanic	15.0	14.6	21.8	18.6		17.6		29.9
No majority racial/ethnic group	13.4	13.4	13.6	18.8		18.8		18.7
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	19.7	19.7	18.7	20.3		20.6		16.1
25.1 to 50.0	25.8	26.3	17.9	27.0		27.7		18.6
50.1 to 75.0	25.7	26.1	19.9	21.7		21.7		21.9
More than 75.0	20.5	19.7	33.8	22.4		21.4		34.2
Missing/school does not participate	8.3	8.2	9.7	8.6		8.6		9.2
Locale	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	4	100.0	4	100.0	4
City	26.2	24.4	55.4	27.4	4	24.9	4	56.3	4
Suburban	27.3	27.7	21.2	31.5	4	32.0	4	25.7	4
Town	13.6	14.0	7.4	13.1	4	13.7	4	6.0	4
Rural	32.9	33.9	16.0	28.0	4	29.4	4	12.0	4
Region	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0		100.0		100.0
Northeast	15.5	15.9	9.7	15.0		15.4		10.0
Midwest	26.1	26.3	22.3	26.0		26.6		19.8
South	34.9	35.1	30.8	34.8		34.8		35.0
West	23.5	22.7	37.2	24.2		23.2		35.2

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. Based on state explanations, these changes were due to (1) the Seamless Summer Option (beginning October 1, 2020), which allowed schools to provide meals to all students, regardless of demonstrated need, and (2) the shift away from in-person instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic (particularly for school year 2020-21), which caused a decrease in the number of students applying for FRPL because they were not present to apply for it. Data for 2021-22 are missing for Alaska.

2Teacher data are missing for Nevada for 2021-22.

3Pupil/teacher ratio based on schools that reported both enrollment and teacher data.

4Excludes schools with missing locale information.

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.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," 2011-12 and 2021-22; and Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE), "Public School File," 2011-12 and 2020-21. (This table was prepared October 2022.)