Mecklenburg County · North Carolina
Charlotte, NC public schools
Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools — federal education data, not a star rating.
Quick answer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is the primary public district for Charlotte, NC. It enrolls 144,197 students in 180 schools with 8,663 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $14,569 per pupil, 16% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.
- Students enrolled
- 144,197NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
- Schools in the district
- 180Operating school count
- Students per teacher
- 16.6Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
- Spending per pupil
- $14,569Total current expenditure, FY2020
Who pays for schools in Charlotte
Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.
- Local revenue
- 33.9%
- $569,195,000
- State revenue
- 55.7%
- $933,614,000
- Federal revenue
- 10.4%
- $174,113,000
Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Charlotte property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 48 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 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (LEAID 3702970) 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 Charlotte data on this site.
NCES LEAID 3702970. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.