Virginia's
public K-12 schools are neither operated directly by the state government nor by
special districts. Instead, most are organized as
political subdivisions known as "school divisions" which are similar to
school districts in some other states. The only independent government school district under Virginia law is the
Eastern Virginia Medical College. All of the K-12 school districts are classified as dependent public school systems by the
U.S. Census Bureau. Each public school division is associated with one or more of the
counties,
independent cities and
incorporated towns in Virginia, with major portions of their funding (and in many instances other services) provided through those local entities. Each school division is overseen by a school board, whose members are either appointed by the elected officials of the participating local entities or by public elections. A Superintendent of Schools (Division Superintendent) is customarily the highest-ranking employee of a school division. All listings are for city or county school divisions, except: • The
Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, jointly administered by the
City of Williamsburg and
James City County, and • The Colonial Beach and West Point school divisions, which are respectively associated with the incorporated towns of
Colonial Beach and
West Point. The
Fairfax County Public Schools, part of the government of
Fairfax County, also serve the
City of Fairfax under a contract between the city and county. The
Greensville County Public Schools also serve the City of
Emporia. ==Region 1 - Central Virginia==