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East Baton Rouge Parish · Louisiana

Baton Rouge, LA public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for East Baton Rouge Parish — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

East Baton Rouge Parish is the primary public district for Baton Rouge, LA. It enrolls 43,253 students in 83 schools with 2,398 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $16,087 per pupil, 7% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
43,253NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
83Operating school count
Students per teacher
18Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$16,087Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Baton Rouge

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
56.5%
$395,080,000
State revenue
27%
$188,730,000
Federal revenue
16.5%
$115,479,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Baton Rouge property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 47 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Baton Rouge numbers

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

Spending of $16,087 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 47 cents of each dollar ($7,491 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 — 56.5% local, 27% state — so both the local tax base and the LA aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 16.5% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

43,253 students across 83 schools averages 521 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). Staffing is thin relative to peers: 18 students per FTE teacher against a 15.2 median, 2.8 students more per teacher.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

East Baton Rouge Parish is a county-scale district, so its catchment reaches well past the Baton Rouge city limits and these figures describe that wider area. 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 Baton Rouge datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 2200540. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.