Many of these schools have received assistance and support from the US government under a program administered by the Office of Overseas Schools of the US Department of State. Variety is one of their basic characteristics. They range from tiny schools, such as the Bishkek International School in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with five pupils, to large overseas schools, like the Jakarta International School in Jakarta, Indonesia, with 2,843 students. The schools are not operated or controlled by the US government. Ownership and policy control are typically in the hands of associations of parents of the children enrolled, who elect a school board to supervise the superintendent or chief administrator.
Tuition payments are the principal source of financing for the schools.
An outstanding characteristic of most American-sponsored schools is the use they make of their location abroad to provide quality foreign language and local culture programs. The administrators and most teachers are Americans or American-trained. A portion of the American staff is hired locally, and a number of these are US government dependent spouses. The second All Iberia Conference will be held 25-28 February 1999 at the Grande Hotel, Av. As of 13 October 1998, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has increased fees for the first time in four years.