Basic educational data, for fall 1974, on all public elementary and secondary day schools in the United States, the District of Columbia, and some outlying areas under U.S. jurisdiction are presented in this report. National trend data since fall 1970 are included for selected items. Detailed data, by state or other area, are provided on the numbers of local school districts, staff, pupils, and high school graduates in fall 1974, as well as estimated expenditures for school maintenance and operation and average salaries of professional instructional staff for the 1974-75 school year. Also included are data on the numbers of public elementary and secondary day schools for 1973-74. Most of the data are also shown separately for the 20 most populous cities. The information presented here was gathered in a survey of public elementary and secondary day schools conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in cooperation with education officials of the individual states. Descriptions of survey procedure, other methodology, and coverage are included in the report, and a replica of the report form and instructions sent to respondents is presented in the appendix. (Author/JG)