How are public schools in Washington, DC funded?
Updates published monthly
Primarily from local governments. In the 2021–2022 school year, the most recent year of available data, about 86.7% of public school funding came from local sources like property taxes. Another 13.3% came through federal programs. Altogether, public schools received $2.93 billion in funding, or $33,000 per student.
$2.93B
of funding went to public schools in Washington, DC (2021–2022 school year)
$33K
per student went to public schools in Washington, DC (2021–2022 school year)
All American public schools are funded with a mix of local, state, and federal money, but the share attributable to each source — and the total amount of funding per student — differs by state. Washington DC public schools received about $33,000 per student in 2021, roughly $14,500 more than the national average. Unlike other states, Washington DC doesn’t receive state-level education funding. Instead, its local government covers both city and state responsibilities. As a result, most of DC’s school funding is reported as coming from local sources, totaling around $28,600 per student, compared to $7,800 from local sources nationally.
In the 2021 school year, public schools in Washington, DC received $14,500 more per student than the average US school
Total public school funding by source per student
Public school districts receive funding from a combination of local, state, and federal sources.
- Local funding often comes from property taxes but can also come from fees or programs like parent-teacher associations.
- State funding is generated through a wide variety of sources that vary from state-to-state, often through personal and corporate income and retail sales taxes. Depending on the state, funding may also come from taxes on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages and from lotteries.
- Federal funding often comes to school districts through a series of targeted grants, like Title I, which supports schools serving low-income communities, or IDEA, which funds special education services. Much of this funding goes to the state, which is then allocated to individual school districts.
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In the 2021 school year, local, state, and federal funds amounted to $33,000 per student in Washington, DC
Total public school funding by source per student
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
