special districts (also known as special service districts, special district governments, limited purpose entities, or special-purpose districts in the united states) are independent, special-purpose governmental units that exist separately from local governments such as county, municipal, and township governments. they have a lot of independence in their administration and funding. they are created to do a single task or a many similar tasks. the u.s. census bureau says that school districts aren't "special district governments". in 2007, the u.s. had more than 37,000 special district governments.