The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least that was the case with the latest list of the nation's 100 largest public school districts. Some grew (63), some shrank (37), some climbed or fell a few notches, but when all the 2009-10 enrollment numbers were tallied, the 100 districts on the list were the same as those in 2008-09.
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• Largest Enrollment (2009-10)
• 1-Year % Change in Enrollment (2009-10 vs. 2008-09)
• 10-Year % Change in Enrollment (2009-10 vs. 1999-2000)
• 20-Year % Change in Enrollment (2009-10 vs. 1989-90)
• 2008-09 Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE)
• % of Population in Public School
Starting with New York City, the nation's largest pre-K to 12 school system, each of the 24 largest districts occupies the same rank in 2009-10 as it did in 2008-09. The Cypress-Fairbanks (Texas) district added enough students for 2009 to squeak by the Baltimore County (Md.) district to rank as the 25th-largest district.
In total, the 100 largest districts accounted for 10,723,155 students — one-tenth of 1 percent less than the 10,735,269 enrolled in those districts in 2008-09.
Of the top 100, 22 had one-year enrollment increases of less than 1 percent, and another 20 districts had enrollment decreases of less than 1 percent. Twenty-five districts had increases between 1 and 2 percent, and seven districts had enrollment drops of between 1 and 2 percent. The district with the fastest one-year growth among the top 100 was the Loudoun County (Va.) district, where enrollment rose 5.5 percent (56,894 to 60,003). The district with the greatest drop was the Jordan (Utah) system, which split into two districts for the 2009-10 school year.
