Why School Boundaries Matter

You can’t see school boundaries and most of us are unaware of exactly where they are but school districts and more importantly, attendance zones, determine which schools our children attend and that has a profound impact on everything from our daily lives to their futures.

School Boundary Definitions

School Districts  

School districts are the basic units around which public schools are organized and operated.  They represent an official administrative units as well as distinct geographic areas.

School Attendance Zones 

School Attendance Zones are the areas within school districts that assign collections of households to specific public elementary, middle and high schools.  School Attendance Zones (SAZs) are generally determined by local school boards and allow them to distribute and balance the student population with available classroom space and resources.

Maponics School Boundaries ^TM

While the US Census is a source for school district boundaries (though they are only updated every two years), the only source for school attendance zones are local school officials, which is exactly where we obtain the data for mapping SAZ boundaries.

As of the first release (May 2010), 14,000 school district boundaries and 134,000 school points are available nationwide. School attendance zone boundaries are available for many major metro areas, representing student population coverage of 20%.

More Information About Maponics School Boundaries

See school boundaries in action in our school boundaries interactive mashup.

For more info, check out our school boundaries FAQ page.