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Spokane County · Washington

Spokane, WA public schools

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

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

Quick answer

Spokane School District is the primary public district for Spokane, WA. It enrolls 28,714 students in 68 schools with 2,066 full-time-equivalent teachers, and spends $21,530 per pupil, 24% above the $17,320 median across the metros covered here.

Students enrolled
28,714NCES Common Core of Data, 2021-22
Schools in the district
68Operating school count
Students per teacher
13.9Enrollment ÷ FTE teachers, not class size
Spending per pupil
$21,530Total current expenditure, FY2020

Who pays for schools in Spokane

Where the district's money comes from, FY2020.

Local revenue
21%
$112,665,000
State revenue
69.4%
$372,811,000
Federal revenue
9.6%
$51,705,000

Local revenue is mostly property tax, which is why the Spokane property tax rate and school funding move together. Of every dollar spent, about 45 cents reaches instruction — teacher salaries, benefits and classroom materials — with the rest covering transport, buildings, food service and administration.

Reading the Spokane numbers

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

At $21,530 per pupil the district spends 24% more than the $17,320 metro median, outspending 76% of the districts covered. Only 45 cents of each dollar ($9,695 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.

The state carries this district: 69.4% of revenue arrives from WA state aid and only 21% is raised locally. Budget swings here follow state formula changes, not local property values. Federal aid contributes 9.6%, near the typical share for a large urban district.

28,714 students across 68 schools averages 422 students per building, and the district is smaller than the typical district covered here (44,998 students). The 13.9:1 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 Spokane School District (LEAID 5308250) as one unit, not any single school in Spokane. 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 Spokane datasets on this site.

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

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

NCES LEAID 5308250. Finance figures are Census Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33) totals as redistributed by the Urban Institute Education Data API.