RESEARCH
State of District Organization Design 2027
An ambitious multi-state study of how school districts are staffed and structured.
WHY IT MATTERS
Every superintendent faces the same structural questions, but no clear playbook exists.
Leaders rarely see how peer districts are organized, let alone which models work. The first step is a clear picture of how districts are staffed and structured today.
WHAT WE'RE BUILDING
The most detailed cross-state data set on how districts are organized.
We are building a data set on the organizational design of K-12 districts, including staffing by role and function. It will cover districts serving at least one in four US public school students, starting with 2025-26 data from states whose public records go deeper than federal reports.
The findings will cover:
Central office and schools
The share of staff in central office and in schools.
Departments and functions
Staffing levels across departments and functions.
District types
How these patterns vary across types of districts.
HOW WE'RE DOING IT
Built to inform district design.
Rich public data exist, but they are buried in hard-to-use formats, and definitions vary by state.
Built from public state staffing files, cleaned to one consistent format.
Roles labeled with one set of definitions, built on existing research and applied the same way in every state.
Designed to align with previous research efforts on K-12 staffing and structures
WHAT WE'LL SHARE
Three ways to use the findings.
A free interactive data tool
Explore how districts are staffed and structured.
A research report
Key findings and what they mean for district leaders.
Webinars and panels
Conversations with district leaders about the findings.
GET EARLY ACCESS
See your state's results first.
Sign up to see the staffing and structure profile of districts in your state before the report is published. The report launches in spring 2027.
Bring the findings to your leadership team.
We'll walk you through what the data say about districts like yours.