A census of governments is taken at 5-year intervals as required by law under Title 13, United States Code, Sec- tion 161. This 1997 census, similar to those taken since 1957, covers three major subject fields: government orga- nization, public employment, and government finances.

Volume 4, Government Finances, contains six parts that cover a wide range of state and local government financial activity in fiscal year 1996-97. They are: No. 1, Public Edu- cation Finances; No. 2, Finances of Special District Govern- ments; No. 3, Finances of County Governments; No. 4, Finances of Municipal and Township Governments; No. 5, Compendium of Government Finances; and No. 6, Employee-Retirement Systems of State and Local Govern- ments.

This report, No. 1, contains financial statistics relating to public elementary-secondary education. It presents national and state financial aggregates and display data for each public school system with an enrollment of 5,000 or more