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Hartford County · Connecticut

Hartford, CT public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Hartford School District — federal education data, not a star rating.

Yellow public school bus parked at dusk, illustrating local school district data

Quick answer

Hartford School District is the primary public district for Hartford, CT. It enrolls 16,774 students in 41 schools with 1,290 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $31,215 per pupil, 80% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
16,774NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
41Operating school count
Students per teacher
13Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$31,215Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Hartford

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
16.3%
$87,024,000
State revenue
72.4%
$387,354,000
Federal revenue
11.3%
$60,316,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Hartford property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 37 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Hartford numbers

What the 2021-22 NCES and FY2020 Census finance numbers say about this district.

$31,215 per pupil puts this district in the top spending tier of the metros tracked here — 80% above the $17,320 median and higher than 93% of them. Only 37 cents of each dollar ($11,424 per student) is classified as instruction, so a large share goes to support services, facilities and transport — common in districts with long bus routes or older buildings.

The state carries this district: 72.4% of revenue arrives from CT state aid and only 16.3% is raised locally. Budget swings here follow state formula changes, not local property values. Federal aid contributes 11.3%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

16,774 students across 41 schools averages 409 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). Staffing is generous: 13 students per FTE teacher versus the 15.2 median, 2.2 fewer students per teacher.

Worth flagging: with state aid at 72.4% of revenue, comparisons to districts in other states say more about CT's funding formula than about Hartford itself.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Hartford School District (LEAID 0901920) as one unit, not any single school in Hartford. Independently authorised charter schools, private schools and regional vocational programs are counted separately by NCES and are not in these totals. Enrollment is the 2021-22 NCES collection; dollars are the FY2020 Census F-33 survey, the latest complete national release. The two years differ, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a live budget line.

Other Hartford datasets on this site.

Statewide: Connecticut cities · Connecticut ZIP codes · Connecticut sales tax · Connecticut counties

Source: NCES Common Core of Data + Census F-33, via Urban Institute Education Data · rates as published for 2021-22 / FY2020

NCES LEAID 0901920. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.