Skip to content
ZipNumbers

Providence County · Rhode Island

Providence, RI public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Providence is the primary public district for Providence, RI. It enrolls 20,725 students in 39 schools with 1,511 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $23,640 per pupil, 36% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
20,725NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
39Operating school count
Students per teacher
13.7Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$23,640Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Providence

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
25.9%
$144,010,000
State revenue
58%
$322,627,000
Federal revenue
16.1%
$89,292,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Providence property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 44 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Providence numbers

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

$23,640 per pupil puts this district in the top spending tier of the metros tracked here — 36% above the $17,320 median and higher than 86% of them. Only 44 cents of each dollar ($10,321 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 — 25.9% local, 58% state — so both the local tax base and the RI aid formula matter to what this district can spend. Federal dollars are an outsized 16.1% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

20,725 students across 39 schools averages 531 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 13.7:1 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 Providence (LEAID 4400900) as one unit, not any single school in Providence. 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 Providence datasets on this site.

Statewide: Rhode Island cities · Rhode Island ZIP codes · Rhode Island sales tax · Rhode Island counties

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

NCES LEAID 4400900. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.