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Chittenden County · Vermont

Burlington, VT public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Burlington School District is the primary public district for Burlington, VT. It enrolls 3,500 students in 10 schools with 312 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $29,530 per pupil, 70% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
3,500NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
10Operating school count
Students per teacher
11.2Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$29,530Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Burlington

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
2.3%
$2,306,000
State revenue
87.3%
$85,800,000
Federal revenue
10.4%
$10,190,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Burlington property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 56 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Burlington numbers

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

$29,530 per pupil puts this district in the top spending tier of the metros tracked here — 70% above the $17,320 median and higher than 91% of them. Instruction takes 56 cents of each dollar — $16,646 per student — with the remainder on transport, buildings, food service and administration.

The state carries this district: 87.3% of revenue arrives from VT state aid and only 2.3% is raised locally. Budget swings here follow state formula changes, not local property values. Federal aid contributes 10.4%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

3,500 students across 10 schools averages 350 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). That is a small-building district; neighbourhood elementary schools dominate the count. Staffing is generous: 11.2 students per FTE teacher versus the 15.2 median, 4 fewer students per teacher.

Worth flagging: with state aid at 87.3% of revenue, comparisons to districts in other states say more about VT's funding formula than about Burlington itself.

What this data covers

Read this before comparing districts.

Figures cover Burlington School District (LEAID 5002820) as one unit, not any single school in Burlington. 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 Burlington datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 5002820. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.