Independent school district

An independent school district (ISD) is a type of school district in some US states for primary and secondary education that operates as an entity independent and separate from any municipality or county, and only under the oversight of the respective state government.

This independence normally also implies that the district has its own taxing authority that is outside the direct control of other governmental entities.

In Kentucky, for example, all school districts are independent of the state, county, and municipal governments.

[2] Historically, as school districts were formed in the United States, they have generally been tied to municipal or county governments who have funded and administered them.

In Texas during the early 1900s, school districts were generally divisions of county or municipal governments as in most of the country.

The onset of the Texas Oil Boom dramatically changed many aspects of the state and many communities within it.

Sudden discoveries of large petroleum reserves created numerous boomtowns whose populations often multiplied tremendously in short periods.

Even as money was rapidly flowing in the communities, obtaining tax revenue efficiently where it was needed was often complex.

These historic boundaries are associated with districts that did not merge with county districts during the early 20th century, a period when Kentucky’s many small ISDs were consolidating into county districts.The first known action by the General Assembly to support public elementary and secondary education was a law passed in 1836 that allowed Paducah to conduct a lottery to raise funds for a public school system, thus establishing the predecessor to today's Paducah Public Schools.

This law also effectively forces any ISD whose enrollment falls below this limit to merge into a neighboring district.

Because of this, many ISDs are much smaller in area than the cities they serve, with dramatic examples including (but not limited to) Berea, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Frankfort, and Paducah.

The exceptions are the five cities whose populations exceed 125,000 (Buffalo, New York, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers), in which education is part of the municipal budget.

The board also has the ultimate say in the hiring and firing of principals and superintendents and other district-wide administrative positions.

In fact, it is very common for multiple small suburbs or communities, with distinct city governments, to be served by a single school district.

Conversely, large cities may include part or all of several school districts, often associated with communities that became part of the city by annexation while retaining their own school districts; for example, the city limits of San Antonio includes portions of the school districts Alamo Heights, East Central, North East, Northside, San Antonio, South San Antonio, Southside, and Southwest.

[5][12][7] The largest concentrations of independent districts are found in Northern Kentucky and the eastern coal region.

The exceptions are the nine cities whose populations exceed 125,000 (Amherst, Buffalo, Brookhaven, Hempstead, Islip, New York, Rochester, Syracuse, Yonkers), in which education is part of the municipal budget.

Each union free school district is governed by a three- to nine-member board of education.

Its board of education must consist of five, seven, or nine members and length of service must be three, four, or five years, each decided upon by the voters in the district.