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Dallas County · Texas

Dallas, TX public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Dallas Isd is the primary public district for Dallas, TX. It enrolls 141,169 students in 240 schools with 9,952 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $16,695 per pupil, 4% below the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
141,169NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
240Operating school count
Students per teacher
14.2Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$16,695Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Dallas

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
75.4%
$1,669,084,000
State revenue
9.1%
$200,641,000
Federal revenue
15.5%
$343,918,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Dallas property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 41 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Dallas numbers

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

Spending of $16,695 per pupil sits close to the $17,320 metro median — within 4 percent of it, so budget is not what sets this district apart. Only 41 cents of each dollar ($6,771 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.

Money is raised locally: 75.4% of revenue comes from local sources — overwhelmingly property tax — against 9.1% from the state. That makes the district's budget move with Dallas property values and levy votes rather than with the TX legislature. Federal dollars are an outsized 15.5% of revenue, a share that tracks concentrated student poverty (Title I) and special-education enrollment.

141,169 students across 240 schools averages 588 students per building, and the district is larger than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 14.2:1 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.

Dallas Isd is a large city district; figures are the district total (LEAID 4816230) and individual schools inside it vary widely. 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 Dallas datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 4816230. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.