All school districts are independent governments as classified by the U.S. Census Bureau. No school systems in Oregon are dependent on other layers of government.[1]
History
In previous eras, the state had around 2,000 school districts. This figure was down to 365 in 1969.[2]
Types of districts
Oregon's elementary and secondary school districts include unified,
component elementary, union high and unified elementary districts. Unified districts serve students from kindergarten to twelfth grade, union high school districts serve students in seventh or ninth grades through twelfth grade who reside within the district's boundaries and have attended component elementary districts within the district's boundaries. Component elementary districts are financially responsible for educating students from kindergarten through the sixth or eighth grades. A component district is wholly within a single union high school district. Elementary, or unified elementary, districts operate the same programs as component districts but are also financially responsible for providing for their students' high school education. These districts do this through tuition arrangements with districts that have seventh or ninth through twelfth-grade programs.
There is one union high school district, Harney County Union High School District, that operates a single school: Crane Union High School. The eight component elementary school districts are Crane, Diamond, Double O, Drewsey, Frenchglen, Pine Creek, Suntex and South Harney. The unified elementary districts include Adel, Annex, Arock, Ashwood, Black Butte, Juntura, McDermitt, Pinehurst, Plush and Troy.[3]