# School division > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/School_division > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/School_division.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_division > Source revision: 1275930954 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Type of school district}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} A '''school division''' is a geographic division over which a [school board](/source/school_board) has jurisdiction. ==Canada== In Canada the term is used for the area controlled by a school board and is used interchangeably with [school district](/source/school_district), including in the formal name of the board. For example, see [List of Alberta school boards](/source/List_of_Alberta_school_boards). ==United States== In the [U.S. state](/source/U.S._state) of [Virginia](/source/Virginia), the State Board of Education is charged under [https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/22.1-25/ ยง 22.1-25] of the [Code of Virginia](/source/Code_of_Virginia) with dividing the state into school divisions. A school division is typically coextensive with a [county](/source/Counties_of_the_United_States) or [independent city](/source/independent_city), although it is also possible for a school division to comprise a city and a neighboring county (e.g., [Williamsburg](/source/Williamsburg%2C_Virginia) and [James City County](/source/James_City_County%2C_Virginia)) or a single [town](/source/Political_subdivisions_of_Virginia) (e.g., [West Point](/source/West_Point%2C_Virginia)). Although the term "school district" is popularly used, a school division in Virginia differs from a [school district](/source/school_district) in most states in the following key respect. Unlike school districts in most states, a Virginia school division is not a separate [local government](/source/Local_government_in_the_United_States), but instead depends on appropriations and budget approvals from its associated general-purpose local government or governments (county, city, town). Legally, it is a [political subdivision](/source/Political_subdivisions_of_Virginia) of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia statute authorizes a school division to contract with a neighboring school division for school functions. One example of such an arrangement is in Northern Virginia, where the [City of Fairfax](/source/Fairfax%2C_Virginia) has contracted with surrounding [Fairfax County](/source/Fairfax_County%2C_Virginia) to run the schools owned by the city (see [Fairfax County Public Schools](/source/Fairfax_County_Public_Schools)). ==See also== *[List of school divisions in Virginia](/source/List_of_school_divisions_in_Virginia) Category:School divisions in Virginia Category:School districts in the United States Category:School districts --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [School division](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_division) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_division?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.