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.
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.
What this data covers
Read this before comparing districts.
Figures describe Des Moines Independent Comm School District (LEAID 1908970) as a whole, not any individual school. Charter schools authorised outside the district, private schools and regional vocational schools are not included. Where a city is served by a county-wide district, the county district is used and its catchment is wider than the city limits. Enrollment is from the 2021-22 NCES collection; money is from the FY2020 Census school finance survey, which is the most recent complete national release — the two years do not line up exactly, so per-pupil spending is a stable indicator rather than a current budget line.
Keep going
Other Des Moines data on this site.
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.