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.