This is the first in a new series of early estimates for public elementary and secondary education in the United States reported by the Center for Education Statistics (CES). Early estimates are key statistics reported early in the school year and include the numbers of students in membership, of teachers, and of high school graduates and total current expenditures for the operation of public elementary and secondary schools. These estimates are either preliminary actual counts for individual states, estimates derived by states for CES, or imputations developed by CES using a combination of state-specific and national data. (Author)