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Multnomah County · Oregon

Portland, OR public schools

Enrollment, school count, staffing and per-pupil spending for Portland SD 1J — federal education data, not a star rating.

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

Quick answer

Portland SD 1J is the primary public district for Portland, OR. It enrolls 44,740 students in 86 schools with 2,740 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $24,533 per pupil, 42% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
44,740NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
86Operating school count
Students per teacher
16.3Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$24,533Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Portland

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
59.6%
$558,742,000
State revenue
33.2%
$311,343,000
Federal revenue
7.1%
$66,621,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Portland property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 34 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.

$24,533 per pupil puts this district in the top spending tier of the metros tracked here — 42% above the $17,320 median and higher than 87% of them. Only 34 cents of each dollar ($8,347 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 — 59.6% local, 33.2% state — so both the local tax base and the OR aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal aid is a small 7.1% of the total, so national funding changes have limited effect on this budget.

44,740 students across 86 schools averages 520 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 16.3:1 student-to-teacher ratio is ordinary for this set of districts (median 15.2:1). It counts all FTE teachers district-wide, so actual class sizes run higher.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Portland SD 1J (LEAID 4110040) 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: Oregon cities · Oregon ZIP codes · Oregon sales tax · Oregon counties

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

NCES LEAID 4110040. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.