# School zones and places

Georgia Civic Data publishes school attendance zones: the areas that
assign a home to its zoned elementary, middle and high school. This
article maps one district’s zones, checks which schools have no zone and
how precise the zones are, and finds the places a location falls in.

The geometry functions return ‘sf’ objects, so install ‘sf’ to map them.
For plain tables, use `geometry = FALSE`.

``` r

library(georgiacivicdata)
library(dplyr)
library(ggplot2)
```

## Map one district’s zones

``` r

zones <- gcd_school_zones(district = "Atlanta Public Schools")
zones |>
  sf::st_drop_geometry() |>
  count(zone_level, method, accuracy_class)
#> # A tibble: 3 x 4
#>   zone_level method       accuracy_class           n
#>   <chr>      <chr>        <chr>                <int>
#> 1 elementary official_gis authoritative_vector    45
#> 2 high       official_gis authoritative_vector     9
#> 3 middle     official_gis authoritative_vector    13
```

``` r

ggplot(zones) +
  geom_sf(aes(fill = school_name), colour = "white", linewidth = 0.2,
          show.legend = FALSE) +
  facet_wrap(~ factor(zone_level, levels = c("elementary", "middle", "high"))) +
  labs(title = "Atlanta Public Schools attendance zones, 2026-27") +
  theme_void()
```

![Map of Atlanta Public Schools elementary, middle and high school
attendance zones.](school-zones-map-1.png)

Atlanta Public Schools zones by level; each colour is a school.

The default `resolution = "display"` returns simplified polygons for
maps. `resolution = "full"` returns the source polygons, which are much
larger; filter to a district before asking for them.

## Schools without a zone

Charter, magnet, alternative and virtual schools have no attendance
zone.
[`gcd_school_zone_status()`](https://georgiacivicdata.org/r/reference/gcd_school_zone_status.md)
says which schools have one and why the others don’t:

``` r

status <- gcd_school_zone_status(district = "Atlanta Public Schools")
count(status, zone_status, no_zone_category)
#> # A tibble: 6 x 3
#>   zone_status no_zone_category             n
#>   <chr>       <chr>                    <int>
#> 1 no_zone     alternative                  1
#> 2 no_zone     charter                     16
#> 3 no_zone     closed_or_consolidated       2
#> 4 no_zone     magnet_or_choice             3
#> 5 no_zone     residential_or_treatment     1
#> 6 zoned       <NA>                        64
attr(status, "note")
#> [1] "Whether each school has an attendance zone on this platform and, if not, why. zoned says only that a zone is published here, not that it covers every grade the school teaches. Not an official enrollment determination: confirm with the school district."
```

## How precise are the zones?

Zones come from very different sources. Some are the district’s official
GIS layers; others are digitized from PDF maps, rebuilt from street
lists, or are the whole district outline (in districts with one school
per grade). Every zone says how it was built (`method`) and how exact it
is (`accuracy_class`); treat them accordingly.

``` r

coverage <- gcd_school_zone_coverage()
coverage |>
  count(zone_level, level_status) |>
  tidyr::pivot_wider(names_from = zone_level, values_from = n)
#> # A tibble: 5 x 4
#>   level_status             elementary  high middle
#>   <chr>                         <int> <int>  <int>
#> 1 not_available                    29     5     10
#> 2 one_school_per_grade             82   130    115
#> 3 partial                          10     6      9
#> 4 zoned                            59    38     46
#> 5 served_by_other_district         NA     1     NA
```

[`gcd_school_zone_coverage()`](https://georgiacivicdata.org/r/reference/gcd_school_zone_coverage.md)
gives one row per district and level, with the share of the district’s
land and 2020 population its zones cover, and the reason for anything
short of complete:

``` r

coverage |>
  filter(district_name == "Appling County") |>
  select(zone_level, level_status, pct_population, methods, reason)
#> # A tibble: 3 x 5
#>   zone_level level_status         pct_population methods          reason        
#>   <chr>      <chr>                         <dbl> <chr>            <chr>         
#> 1 elementary not_available                    NA district_outline Elementary: T~
#> 2 middle     one_school_per_grade              1 district_outline Elementary: T~
#> 3 high       one_school_per_grade              1 district_outline Elementary: T~
```

## Locate a place

[`gcd_locate()`](https://georgiacivicdata.org/r/reference/gcd_locate.md)
takes points (`lat`, `lon`) or street addresses and returns the county,
Census tract and block group, school district and zoned schools each
falls in, one row per place.

``` r

landmarks <- tibble::tribble(
  ~landmark,                      ~lat,     ~lon,
  "Georgia State Capitol",        33.7490,  -84.3880,
  "Stone Mountain Park",          33.8053,  -84.1455,
  "Okefenokee Swamp Park",        31.0558,  -82.2701,
  "Appling County Courthouse",    31.7782,  -82.3482
)
places <- gcd_locate(lat = landmarks$lat, lon = landmarks$lon,
                     id = landmarks$landmark)
#> i A zone is the default assignment, not the only option: a Georgia student may
#>   attend another public school by transfer, or a charter, magnet or other
#>   choice school. See attendance_rules for the main ways.
places |>
  select(id, geographic_type, geographic_id, geographic_name, grades)
#> # A tibble: 28 x 5
#>    id                    geographic_type   geographic_id geographic_name  grades
#>    <chr>                 <chr>             <chr>         <chr>            <chr> 
#>  1 Georgia State Capitol county            13121         Fulton           <NA>  
#>  2 Georgia State Capitol tract             13121003500   Census Tract 35  <NA>  
#>  3 Georgia State Capitol block_group       131210035001  Block Group 1, ~ <NA>  
#>  4 Georgia State Capitol school_district   761           Atlanta Public ~ <NA>  
#>  5 Georgia State Capitol elementary_school 761-0199      Centennial Acad~ K-5   
#>  6 Georgia State Capitol middle_school     761-0199      Centennial Acad~ 6-8   
#>  7 Georgia State Capitol high_school       761-4560      Midtown High Sc~ 9-12  
#>  8 Stone Mountain Park   county            13089         DeKalb           <NA>  
#>  9 Stone Mountain Park   tract             13089021915   Census Tract 21~ <NA>  
#> 10 Stone Mountain Park   block_group       130890219153  Block Group 3, ~ <NA>  
#> # i 18 more rows
```

The output is long: filter it to the rows you need, such as
`filter(places, geographic_type == "high_school")`. A school’s
`geographic_id` is its `"DISTRICT-SCHOOL"` code, the form
[`gcd_rows()`](https://georgiacivicdata.org/r/reference/gcd_rows.md)
takes as `school_id`.

The `note` column explains any row that is missing or needs care, such
as a level with no zone collected yet:

``` r

noted <- filter(places, !is.na(note))
noted |> select(id, geographic_type, geographic_name)
#> # A tibble: 1 x 3
#>   id                        geographic_type   geographic_name
#>   <chr>                     <chr>             <chr>          
#> 1 Appling County Courthouse elementary_school <NA>
writeLines(strwrap(noted$note, width = 76))
#> No elementary school zone has been collected for this district yet.
#> Elementary: The district has separate elementary attendance zones (the
#> Appling County Elementary Complex in Baxley, which is Appling County
#> Primary for pre-K to grade 3 and Appling County Elementary for grades 4-5;
#> Altamaha Elementary; and Fourth District Elementary in Surrency), but no
#> map, street list or online lookup of them is published.
```

### Addresses

Addresses are geocoded on your computer with the U.S. Census batch
geocoder; only the resulting coordinates are sent to Georgia Civic Data.
Give one-line addresses or a data frame with `street`, `city`, `state`
and `zip`:

``` r

capitol <- gcd_locate(address = "206 Washington St SW, Atlanta, GA 30334")
capitol |>
  select(match_status, matched_address, geographic_type, geographic_name, grades)
#> # A tibble: 7 x 5
#>   match_status matched_address            geographic_type geographic_name grades
#>   <chr>        <chr>                      <chr>           <chr>           <chr> 
#> 1 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ county          Fulton          <NA>  
#> 2 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ tract           Census Tract 35 <NA>  
#> 3 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ block_group     Block Group 1,~ <NA>  
#> 4 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ school_district Atlanta Public~ <NA>  
#> 5 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ elementary_sch~ Centennial Aca~ K-5   
#> 6 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ middle_school   Centennial Aca~ 6-8   
#> 7 match        206 WASHINGTON ST SW, ATL~ high_school     Midtown High S~ 9-12
```

The same lookup for several buildings, from a data frame with one column
per address part. `id` carries each building’s name into the output:

``` r

buildings <- tibble::tribble(
  ~building,                ~street,                 ~city,      ~state, ~zip,
  "Georgia State Capitol",  "206 Washington St SW",  "Atlanta",  "GA",   "30334",
  "Savannah City Hall",     "2 E Bay St",            "Savannah", "GA",   "31401"
)
located <- gcd_locate(address = buildings, id = buildings$building)
located |>
  filter(geographic_type == "high_school") |>
  select(id, match_status, geographic_name, grades)
#> # A tibble: 2 x 4
#>   id                    match_status geographic_name                      grades
#>   <chr>                 <chr>        <chr>                                <chr> 
#> 1 Georgia State Capitol match        Midtown High School                  9-12  
#> 2 Savannah City Hall    match        The School Of Liberal Studies At Sa~ 9-12
```

### Overlapping school zones

Some residences are zoned to one elementary school for the early grades
and another for the later ones. In this case, a level has more than one
school row and `grades` tells them apart. City Schools of Decatur, for
example, split elementary schools between K-2 and 3-5. Therefore some
homes in the district will show two elementary schools:

``` r

oakhurst <- gcd_dimension("schools", district_code = "773", q = "Oakhurst",
                          active = TRUE,
                          columns = c("school_name", "latitude", "longitude"))
oakhurst
#> # A tibble: 1 x 3
#>   school_name                latitude longitude
#>   <chr>                         <dbl>     <dbl>
#> 1 Oakhurst Elementary School     33.8     -84.3

split <- gcd_locate(lat = oakhurst$latitude, lon = oakhurst$longitude)
split |>
  filter(endsWith(geographic_type, "_school")) |>
  select(geographic_type, geographic_id, geographic_name, grades)
#> # A tibble: 4 x 4
#>   geographic_type   geographic_id geographic_name                      grades
#>   <chr>             <chr>         <chr>                                <chr> 
#> 1 elementary_school 773-0105      Oakhurst Elementary School           K-2   
#> 2 elementary_school 773-0112      Fifth Avenue Upper Elementary School 3-5   
#> 3 middle_school     773-1552      Beacon Hill Middle School            6-8   
#> 4 high_school       773-3050      Decatur High School                  9-12
```

`grade` keeps only the school for one grade:

``` r

gcd_locate(lat = oakhurst$latitude, lon = oakhurst$longitude, grade = "4") |>
  filter(endsWith(geographic_type, "_school")) |>
  select(geographic_type, geographic_name, grades)
#> # A tibble: 1 x 3
#>   geographic_type   geographic_name                      grades
#>   <chr>             <chr>                                <chr> 
#> 1 elementary_school Fifth Avenue Upper Elementary School 3-5
```

### The default assignment

A zone is the default assignment, not the only option:

``` r

attr(capitol, "assignment_note")
#> [1] "A zone is the default assignment, not the only option: a Georgia student may attend another public school by transfer, or a charter, magnet or other choice school. See attendance_rules for the main ways."
```

Students can attend another public school by transfer, or a charter,
magnet, or other choice school option.

See Georgia Civic Data’s article [School Zones and School Choice in
Georgia](https://georgiacivicdata.org/stories/school-attendance-rules)
for more information.