A school district is a special-purpose local government that is established specifically to operate public schools. In the United States, most states have independent school districts (where the school board operates independently of a city or county, even where the district's boundaries are coterminous with those of another political entity; an example is Florida where all school districts have the same boundaries as its counties), while a few (e.g., Maryland and Virginia) subordinate schools to a general-purpose local government such as a city or a county.