The school environment is described by a number of features, including the characteristics of teachers and staff, student/teacher ratios, and the climate for learning. Monitoring these and other factors provides a fuller picture of the conditions in schools that can influence education. Society also influences and provides support for education through means including learning activities that take place outside school, as well as financial support for education.

• During the 2005-06 school year, 86 percent of public schools indicated that one or more incidents—including violent ones (serious violent incidents, physical attack or fight without a weapon, and threat of physical attack without a weapon), thefts of items over $10, and other incidents—had taken place at school. That year, 61 percent of public schools reported at least one incident to the police. Some 38 percent of public schools reported at least one violent incident, 13 percent reported at least one serious violent incident, 28 percent reported at least one theft, and 51 percent reported at least one of the other specified incidents. The percentage of schools experiencing at least one violent incident was lower in 2005-06 than in 2003-04, but was lowest in 1999-2000 (indicator 28).
  


• In 2005-06, larger percentages of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students attended high-poverty schools—defined as public schools with more than 75 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch—than did White or Asian/Pacific Islander students, and higher percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander than White students did so. Overall, a similar pattern was found among racial/ethnic groups within different school locales: in each locale (cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural areas), higher percentages of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native students attended high-poverty schools than did their White and Asian/Pacific Islander peers (indicator 29).
  


• Public schools with high minority enrollments (defined as schools in which 75 percent or more of the students were Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native) enrolled 23 percent of all public elementary and secondary students in 2005-06. However, about half of all Hispanic and Black public school students attended such schools: larger percentages than Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, or White public school students at such schools. A larger percentage of public school students in schools with high minority enrollments were found in cities than in suburban areas, towns, or rural areas (indicator 30).
  


• At the end of the 2003-04 school year, 17 percent of the elementary and secondary teachers left the public and private schools where they had been teaching. Almost half of this teacher turnover was due to transferring to a different school: 8 percent did so. The remainder (9 percent of the teacher workforce) was due to teachers who left teaching to take a job in another field, pursue further education, leave for family reasons, retire, or leave for other reasons. In 2003-04, the turnover rate for high-poverty public schools (where 75 percent or more of their students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch) was greater than for low-poverty public schools (where less than 15 percent of their students were eligible) (indicator 31).
  


• In 2003-04, public schools employed over 5.5 million staff: 2.8 million were employed by elementary schools, 950,000 by middle schools, and 1.4 million by secondary schools. Professional instructional staff—including principals, teachers, instructional coordinators and supervisors, librarians/library media specialists, and school counselors—accounted for 64 percent of public school staff, with teachers making up the majority (57 percent) of all staff. Schools in rural areas generally had lower average numbers of students per staff member than did schools in other locales for most professional instructional and student services professional staff (indicator 32).
  


• The ratio of students to teachers, which is sometimes used as a proxy measure for class size, declined between 1990 and 2005 from 17.6 to 16.1 students per teacher for all regular public elementary, secondary, and combined schools. In every year during this period, the student/teacher ratios tended to be higher in public schools with larger enrollments than in public schools with smaller enrollments. For example, in 2005, regular secondary schools with 1,500 students or more enrolled 6.6 more students per teacher, on average, than regular secondary schools with enrollments under 300 (indicator 33).
  


• Total elementary and secondary public school revenues increased 55 percent in constant dollars from 1989-90 to 2004-05. Federal and state revenues increased at a faster rate than all local revenues (both property tax revenue and other local revenue). During this period, the percentage of total revenue for public elementary and secondary education from local sources declined (from 47 to 44 percent), while the proportion of total revenue flowing to public schools from federal sources increased (from 6 to 9 percent) and the proportion from state sources stayed the same (47 percent) (indicator 34).
  


• Between 1989-90 and 2004-05, total expenditures per student in public elementary and secondary schools rose 29 percent in constant 2006-07 dollars, from $8,437 to $10,892. Among the functions of current expenditures, spending on student and staff support increased the most (48 percent), followed by instruction (26 percent) and transportation (20 percent). Although the amount of current expenditures spent on salaries increased by 16 percent during this period, the percentage of current expenditures spent on salaries declined 4 percentage points, from 66 to 62 percent. The percentage spent on employee benefits increased almost 3 percentage points (indicator 35).
  


• Differences between states accounted for a greater percentage of the variation in instruction expenditures per student among unified public school districts than did differences within states from 1997-98 to 2004-05. The between-state differences increased during this period, while the within-state differences remained largely unchanged. In the 1997-98 school year, 57 percent of the variation in instruction expenditures per student was due to the between-state differences, and 43 percent was due to the within-state differences. In the 2004-05 school year, the corresponding percentages were 66 and 34 percent (indicator 36).
  


• In 2004-05, current expenditures per student, which include instructional, administrative, and operation and maintenance expenditures, were highest in high-poverty districts ($9,892), next highest in low-poverty districts ($9,263), and lowest in middle-poverty districts ($8,536). Between 1997-98 and 2004-05, current expenditures per student increased by 20 percent in constant 2006-07 dollars, from $7,602 to $9,094. Current expenditures per student increased the most for the high-poverty districts (26 percent) and the least for the middle-poverty districts (16 percent) (indicator 37).
  


• In 2004, U.S. expenditures per student at the combined elementary and secondary level were $9,368, higher than the average of $6,604 for the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reporting data. At the postsecondary level, U.S. expenditures per student were $22,476, higher than the OECD average of $11,418 (indicator 38).