School districts - Latest

School Boundaries Product Guide

Product type
Data
Portfolio
Enrich
Product family
Enrich Boundaries > Community Boundaries
Product
Schools > School Boundaries
Version
Latest
ft:locale
en-US
Product name
School Boundaries
ft:title
School Boundaries Product Guide
Copyright
2025
First publish date
2010
ft:lastEdition
2025-06-27
ft:lastPublication
2025-06-27T10:26:53.518000

School districts are the administrative entities that manage operations and budgeting of public schools in a geographic area.

Primary school districts

Primary school districts administer one or more public schools serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through 5, or pre-K through 8.

Secondary school districts

Secondary school districts administer one or more public schools serving students in grades 6-12 or grades 9-12.

Unified school districts

Unified school districts administer one or more public schools serving students in grades pre-K through 12.

Overlapping school districts

In some regions, elementary and secondary schools are administered by separate school districts; thus, multiple school districts share that area and overlap. This scenario only applies when there is no unified school district (serving grades pre-K-12) covering that region.

Coextensive schools

The term coextensive is unique to the School Boundaries product. Simply put, it defines the geometric relationship between the area served by a school and the school district. A coextensive school is one for which the attendance zone is geometrically identical to the school district. This typically occurs when there is one school per grade, with no overlap between grade ranges, which serves the entire school district.

It is important to note that some districts may be partially coextensive, meaning that a subset of schools in the district are coextensive while others have specific attendance zones. A school district may have defined school attendance zones for primary and middle schools, for example, while there is only one high school for the entire district.

The coextensive attribute has been transitioned from the school district to the school point. Moving this attribute allows a more precise depiction of which schools within a district are coextensive.