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Tulsa County · Oklahoma

Tulsa, OK public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Tulsa is the primary public district for Tulsa, OK. It enrolls 33,871 students in 69 schools with 1,715 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $13,909 per pupil, 20% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
33,871NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
69Operating school count
Students per teacher
19.7Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$13,909Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Tulsa

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
50.9%
$221,606,000
State revenue
33.8%
$147,044,000
Federal revenue
15.4%
$66,965,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Tulsa property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 42 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Tulsa numbers

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

$13,909 per pupil is 20% below the $17,320 metro median; only 26% of tracked districts spend less. Only 42 cents of each dollar ($5,904 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 — 50.9% local, 33.8% state — so both the local tax base and the OK aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 15.4% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

33,871 students across 69 schools averages 491 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). Staffing is thin relative to peers: 19.7 students per FTE teacher against a 15.2 median, 4.5 students more per teacher.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Tulsa (LEAID 4030240) as one unit, not any single school in Tulsa. 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 Tulsa datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 4030240. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.