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Cumberland County · Maine

Portland, ME public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Portland Public Schools — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

Portland Public Schools is the primary public district for Portland, ME. It enrolls 6,476 students in 17 schools with 613 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $21,508 per pupil, 24% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
6,476NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
17Operating school count
Students per teacher
10.6Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$21,508Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Portland

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
66.2%
$96,058,000
State revenue
20.1%
$29,138,000
Federal revenue
13.7%
$19,947,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Portland property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 53 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Portland numbers

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

At $21,508 per pupil the district spends 24% more than the $17,320 metro median, outspending 74% of the districts covered. Instruction takes 53 cents of each dollar — $11,443 per student — with the remainder on transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Money is raised locally: 66.2% of revenue comes from local sources — overwhelmingly property tax — against 20.1% from the state. That makes the district's budget move with Portland property values and levy votes rather than with the ME legislature. Federal aid contributes 13.7%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

6,476 students across 17 schools averages 381 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). That is a small-building district; neighbourhood elementary schools dominate the count. Staffing is generous: 10.6 students per FTE teacher versus the 15.2 median, 4.6 fewer students per teacher.

Worth flagging: high spending here is bought locally. A property-tax-funded budget at this level means school quality and Portland housing costs are tightly coupled — the tax bill on a home is effectively the school funding mechanism.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Portland Public Schools (LEAID 2309930) as one unit, not any single school in Portland. 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 Portland datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 2309930. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.