Education In the United States
Every child has the right to attend public tax-supported elementary and secondary schools without tuition fees. About 25 per cent of children of kindergarten, elementary, and high school age attend parochial and other private schools. These schools are operated with considerable freedom from government control. Parents who send children to them usually pay fees, but are not excused from taxation for the support of public schools. There are both publicly and privately supported institutions of higher education. In addition, community colleges and some high schools offer inexpensive courses on a wide variety of academic and nonacademic subjects to citizens of all ages.
Public education is free in all states, and school attendance is compulsory in virtually all states. The majority of states require that schooling begin by age 7 and continue to age 16. Teenagers over 16 are encouraged to remain in school until they complete their secondary schooling. Experimental alternative high schools that in some cases have no building and no set curriculum have influenced dropouts to return and continue their education. Adults who never finished high school may earn a certificate of high school equivalency by passing the General Educational Development (GED) examination, a test offered by each state.
A student with a good academic record is often able to get a scholarship for higher education. Then if the student's record is good, a grant to assist in a graduate course of study may be obtained. In the United States, most specialization takes place at the graduate level.
| School enrollment in the United States | |||
| Year | Prekindergarten, kindergarten and grades 1-8 | Grades 9-12 | Colleges and universities |
| 1890 | 14,036,000 | 298,000 | 157,000 |
| 1900 | 16,262,000 | 669,000 | 238,000 |
| 1910 | 18,529,000 | 1,115,000 | 355,000 |
| 1920 | 20,964,000 | 2,500,000 | 598,000 |
| 1930 | 23,740,000 | 4,812,000 | 1,101,000 |
| 1940 | 21,127,000 | 7,130,000 | 1,494,000 |
| 1950 | 22,207,000 | 6,453,000 | 2,659,000 |
| 1960 | 32,412,000 | 9,600,000 | 3,216,000 |
| 1970 | 37,011,000 | 14,418,000 | 7,136,000 |
| 1980 | 31,639,000 | 14,570,000 | 12,097,000 |
| 1990 | 34,392,000 | 12,472,000 | 13,819,000 |
| 2000 | 38,594,000 | 14,779,000 | 15,312,000 |
| 2006 | 38,658,000 | 16,417,000 | 17,648,000 |
There is no federal system of education, but the federal government through the Department of Education and other agencies has a strong influence on all levels of education. The federal government itself conducts agricultural education and educational programs for members of the armed forces and their dependents.
Although policies and practices differ among the 50 state school systems, there are many similarities. These are due to common goals, voluntary cooperation, the influence of education agencies of the federal government, and requirements that must be met to receive federal funds.
Typically, each state has a state board of education that sets policy. An elected or appointed commissioner of education or superintendent of public instruction is at the head of a state department of education, which carries out the board's policy. State boards and other agencies operate state institutions of higher learning, vocational schools, and special schools such as those for the visually or hearing impaired. The state department of education sets minimum standards for schools of the state.
The states delegate a large degree of control of the public elementary and secondary schools to local units called school districts. There are about 16,000 school districts in the United States. A few consist of only a one-teacher school; others, as in cities, are very large. A board of education, usually consisting of three to seven members, is elected (sometimes appointed) in each school district. The board sets school policy, prepares a budget, employs teachers, and provides buildings and equipment. Most school boards employ a superintendent of schools to carry out policy. The superintendent is usually appointed by the board, but in some places is an elected official.
In about two-thirds of the states there are intermediate administrative units or districts between local school districts and the state department of education. Most of these districts are county units, each with a county board of education and superintendent of schools.
Most of the cost of operating the public school system is paid by local and state governments, the rest by the federal government. Local school revenues usually provide most of the funding; they are raised almost entirely by property taxes. States grant aid to their public schools in varying degrees and by several methods. The state funds are raised by state income tax or by sales tax and are sometimes supplemented by revenue from state lotteries. To build new schools and pay for improvements and special projects, most school boards issue bonds, the money raised from their sale to be repaid over a number of years.
