2012-2013 Summary of Maine School Systems

Maine has 230 school administrative units that comprise 492 municipalities (Definitions). These school administrative units are served by 137 Superintendent of schools in 134 administrative offices.

School Administrative Unit

Number of School
Admin. Units

Number of
Municipalities

SAUs under Individual Supervision

59

59

Community School Districts

4

 11

Regional School Units doing business as School Administrative Districts

42

160

Regional School Units

25

137

SAUs in Unions (including Maine Indian Education)

7 (with 23 member units)

23
Alternative Organizational Structures 15 (with 77 member units) 116

TOTALS *

230 (with Union and AOS units counted separately)

 492 *

* 14 municipalities belong to more than one type of school administrative unit structure.

  • 2 municipalities are members of a school administrative district and a community school district.

  • 12 municipalities are municipal school units and are members of a community school district.

 

There are 740 schools in Maine: 621 public and 119 approved private. According to Maine Statute, an Elementary school means that portion of a school that provides instruction in any combination of kindergarten through grade 8. A Secondary school means that portion of a school that provides instruction in any combination of grades 9 through 12. Listed below are totals in a variety of grade combinations.
TOTAL SCHOOLS (4 Yr-Olds - Grade 12)
Public Private Total
(Note: Schools are not counted more than once in these totals)
621 119 740
Grades Included
(Note: Schools may be included in more than one grade combination)
School Type

Public

Private

Total
K-8
 Elementary Schools 494 93 587

9-12

Secondary Schools
*Public count includes (4) State Funded Schools; and (2) Special Education/Alternative Education Schools
**Private count includes 60% Public Schools

124* 68** 192
9-12 Vocational
Career and Technical Regions 27 -- 27
4 Yr. Old
Schools that have an approved 4-year-old program. 202 -- 202