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Polk County · Iowa

Des Moines, IA public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Des Moines Independent Comm School District is the primary public district for Des Moines, IA. It enrolls 30,739 students in 59 schools with 2,077 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $16,187 per pupil, 7% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
30,739NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
59Operating school count
Students per teacher
14.8Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$16,187Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Des Moines

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
29.7%
$175,291,000
State revenue
52.3%
$308,874,000
Federal revenue
18%
$106,210,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Des Moines property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 49 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Des Moines numbers

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

Spending of $16,187 per pupil sits close to the $17,320 metro median — within 7 percent of it, so budget is not what sets this district apart. Only 49 cents of each dollar ($7,994 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.

Funding is split roughly evenly — 29.7% local, 52.3% state — so both the local tax base and the IA aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 18% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

30,739 students across 59 schools averages 521 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 14.8:1 student-to-teacher ratio is ordinary for this set of districts (median 15.2:1). It counts all FTE teachers district-wide, so actual class sizes run higher.

Worth flagging: a federal share this large means the district is exposed to grant cycles. Title I and pandemic-era relief awards can move the per-pupil figure between survey years without any change in local taxation.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Des Moines Independent Comm School District (LEAID 1908970) as one unit, not any single school in Des Moines. 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 Des Moines datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 1908970. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.