Springfield School District No. 186 is the unified public school district in Sangamon County, Illinois. It includes most of the city of Springfield, its four inner suburbs of Grandview, Leland Grove, Jerome, and Southern View, and some rural areas immediately north of Springfield. The district was formed in 1854 by state statute and initially governed by the Springfield city council. The district’s charter was amended in 1869, placing power in a nine person school board appointed by the city council. In 1911, state law reduced the school board to a seven person board of education elected by the public.

Springfield High School is the oldest of the high schools operated by the district, having opened in 1857. Feitshans School, originally a grade school, began operating as a high school in 1929. In the 1960s, the Feitshans High School building was deemed too small to accommodate the growing population, and the school closed in favor of construction of a new school in the area - Southeast High School. Lanphier High School opened in 1937.