"Snapshot '97," the 10th edition of this publication, provides information about students, student performance, staffing, and the financing of Texas public school districts. This annual summary is a useful source of information for anyone interested in the demographics of Texas schools, the resources available, and the improvements that have been made in student achievement. The report begins with "Statistical Highlights," an overview of education at the state level. These highlights explain how the public education system is organized; describe student, staff, and financial characteristics; and provide other statistics on many aspects of public schools. This opening narrative is followed by "Detailed Statistics," a section containing 87 different items of information for the state, regions within the state, and each of the 1,043 school districts in Texas. Information for the 16 newly formed charter schools is also included. These items provide information on student demographics and performance, staff characteristics, and school district finances. The first part of this section contains summary tables for the districts and charters categorized by size, community type, tax effort, property wealth per pupil, and Education Service Center Region. The second part of the "Detailed Statistics" section gives information for each individual school district. Five appendixes contain definitions of the data items, a list of bibliographic sources, a list of data sources, endnotes, and a list of school districts in alphabetical order. (Contains 29 exhibits and 11 references.) (SLD)