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The following statement accurately, I believe, describes suburban Chicago school districts:
The vast majority have separate high school and K-8 school districts.
The high school districts more often than not contain the name of their township in them, although they never were governmentally attached to their townships, being separate entities. A series of elementary school districts feed into one high school district, although in a few cases, the attendance areas of the high school district and the elementary district are identical.
Illinois, as a state (and a dysfunctional one, at that) has more governmental units than any state in the nation; the separate K-8 and high school districts in Chicagoland contribute to that large number.
I know that the majority of the school districts within the nation are unit districts, K-12. What I'm not sure of, however, is this:
are there other places other than suburban Chicago that has separate K-8 and high school districts? How prevalent are these?
Oklahoma has what are called "independent" and "dependent" school districts. Most school districts are Independent, meaning k-12 but in small rural areas sometimes there are towns with K-8 "Dependent" districts where the kids from the Dependent district go to a nearby Independent district's high school.
This doesn't happen in urban/suburban areas and I think they are dying out for the most part anyway.
Oklahoma has what are called "independent" and "dependent" school districts. Most school districts are Independent, meaning k-12 but in small rural areas sometimes there are towns with K-8 "Dependent" districts where the kids from the Dependent district go to a nearby Independent district's high school.
This doesn't happen in urban/suburban areas and I think they are dying out for the most part anyway.
Man, that sure is a new one on me; never heard anything like it. I have to wonder: what is the reason why those K-8 districts just merge with the independent districts....wouldn't that make more sense? Seems to me that these dependent districts are putting themselves at a disadvantage as their K-8 curriculum would be less aligned to the 9-12 curriculum than would be true of the K-8 curriculum in the independent district.
It may have something to do with historical taxing districts as well. For example, in our county, which is fairly rural, we have a county K-12 district. However, the largest town has it's own independent K-12 district and the second largest has it's own K-8 district though it feeds into the county for 9-12.
The county district makes a play every few years to merge our town's K-12 district into the county to get their hands on the tax base. And we want to keep it separate because it beats the county academically.
The following statement accurately, I believe, describes suburban Chicago school districts:
The vast majority have separate high school and K-8 school districts.
The high school districts more often than not contain the name of their township in them, although they never were governmentally attached to their townships, being separate entities. A series of elementary school districts feed into one high school district, although in a few cases, the attendance areas of the high school district and the elementary district are identical.
Illinois, as a state (and a dysfunctional one, at that) has more governmental units than any state in the nation; the separate K-8 and high school districts in Chicagoland contribute to that large number.
I know that the majority of the school districts within the nation are unit districts, K-12. What I'm not sure of, however, is this:
are there other places other than suburban Chicago that has separate K-8 and high school districts? How prevalent are these?
I grew up in rural Illinois well outside of suburbia, and the elementary and high school district serving my area are separate districts and always have been, dating back to the late 1800s (community's founding).
I have read about this phenomenon existing in other regions of the country beyond Chicagoland, though off of the top of my head the only one I can immediately think of is in Phoenix. The Phoenix metropolitan area has several districts that are split between elementary and high school, as well as quite a few that are "unified." Adding to this is the inconsistency that exists with school district names and suburb boundaries that creates perhaps one of the most confusing school district arrangements in the country.
Interesting, I grew up in Chicagoland and I know our K-8 were in one district, and the two local high schools were in their own district (and had 4-5 K-8 districts feeding into them). All the other states (5+) in which I've lived and worked (in schools) have had K-12 districts. Usually 1-4 high schools and all the K-5/6 and 6/7-8 that feed into them. I've never thought about that separate K-8 and 9-12 districts being a Chicago thing.
I have read about this phenomenon existing in other regions of the country beyond Chicagoland, though off of the top of my head the only one I can immediately think of is in Phoenix. The Phoenix metropolitan area has several districts that are split between elementary and high school, as well as quite a few that are "unified." Adding to this is the inconsistency that exists with school district names and suburb boundaries that creates perhaps one of the most confusing school district arrangements in the country.
Try the Houston area. Although the districts are unified k-12, the school district boundaries are often not correlated to a specific city or town. Our town has basically 3 different school districts within its boundaries - one for the majority of residents of the town, but another two for the residents of one particular subdivision that grew up later than the rest of the town. The residents are citizens of our city, but in different school districts. I think that is pretty confusing.
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