School & District Management

Statistics Update: New Trends in Enrollment, Virtual Schooling, and Special Education

By Maya Riser-Kositsky & Debra Viadero — August 03, 2022 1 min read
Conceptual image of allocation.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Here’s a quiz: How many public and private schools are in the United States? What’s the average tenure of a big-city superintendent? How much do states spend on average each year per pupil?

The answers (130,930, six years, and $13,679, respectively) can be found on Education Week’s statistics pages. EdWeek librarians regularly gather statistics like these for both general education and special education and revise them periodically. The most recent revision surfaced new data on virtual schooling, student enrollment, and the share of students in special education.

Here are three changes from the latest go-round:

  • There were 691 virtual schools in 2019-20, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That’s before the pandemic took hold, so the number has likely changed. But it’s the most recent data available. By comparison, 21 percent of public schools offered online courses in 2017-18.
  • The average enrollment of city and rural schools is inching up. The average number of students in city schools rose from 585 in 2018 to 588 students in 2019, the most recent year available. Rural schools grew from an average of 364 students in 2018 to 368 a year later. Average enrollment in suburban schools, meanwhile, declined, dropping from 656 in 2018 to 654 in 2019.
  • The percent of special education students rose in states with the smallest percentage (Hawaii and Texas with 11.3 percent) and the largest percentage (New York with 20.5 percent) of these students in 2020-21. Texas previously had the smallest share with 10.8 percent of students in special education in 2019-20. New York had the largest, with 19.9 percent.

Finally, just for fun, can you guess the 10 public school districts with the largest enrollments? The chart below has the answers.

RankDistrict nameState Enrollment
1New York CityNY960,484
2Los Angeles UnifiedCA495,255
3ChicagoIL359,476
4Miami-Dade CountyFL350,434
5Clark CountyNV330,225
6Broward CountyFL270,978
7Hillsborough CountyFL220,252
8HoustonTX209,772
9Orange CountyFL208,203
10Palm Beach CountyFL192,533

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Opinion How Can Principals Grow the Next Generation of Teachers? Listen to My Student
Here’s what made this high schooler want to become a public school teacher.
S. Kambar Khoshaba & Mina Etemadi
4 min read
Conceptual image of growing the next generation of teachers from students.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management How Los Angeles Schools Are Responding to the ICE Raids and Protests
The school year in Los Angeles is ending amid immigration raids, protests, and the activation of National Guard troops and Marines.
4 min read
Los Angeles police officers with batons and riot gear attempt to move back protesters in downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025.
Los Angeles police officers with batons and riot gear attempt to move back protesters in downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the district's police force planned to set up "perimeters of safety" around graduation ceremonies this week amid immigration raids in the city, protests, and the activation of National Guard troops and Marines.
Eric Thayer/AP
School & District Management Download How to Boost Teacher Morale: A Guide for District Leaders (DOWNLOADABLE)
Our discussion guide for district leaders has three takeaways about teachers' attitudes toward their job. Use it to jump start PD with your team.
1 min read
A leader meets with their team. Superintendents, principals, schools leaders, district maps.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management No More Fresh Fruits and Veggies: Schools Grapple With Loss of Federal Funding
The Local Food to Schools program, which was canceled by the Trump administration, helped schools get fresh, local produce.
7 min read
Dan Yarnick inspects produce at Yarnick's Farm in Indiana, Pa., on June 4, 2025. The farm is one of a number of local providers who partnered with Pittsburgh Public Schools to provide students with fresh fruits and veggies.
Dan Yarnick inspects produce at Yarnick's Farm in Indiana, Pa., on June 4, 2025. The farm is one of a number of local providers who partnered with Pittsburgh Public Schools to provide students with fresh fruits and vegetables. These types of partnerships are in jeopardy with the cancellation of the Local Food for Schools program.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week