Funding Our Schools

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    NYC Public Schools Budget

    For the 2023-2024 school year (Fiscal Year 2024), our total budget is $39.4 billion.

    Where Does Our Funding Come From? 

    Funding generally comes from income and corporate taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes.

    Decorative image of pie chart showing NYC public schools' funding sources.
    • 53% comes from New York City ($21B)
    • 36% comes from the New York State ($14B)
    • 6% comes from Federal stimulus funding ($2B)
    • 5% comes from other Federal funding ($2.1B)
    • The remainder (under 1%, or approximately $0.3B) comes from private or other sources

      How Is NYC Public Schools’ Budget Spent?

      NYC Public Schools' 39.4 billion budget is spent as follows:

      Decorative Pie Chart explaining how the 2023-2024 budget is spent.

      $22.9 billion (58%) goes to:

      • $15.5 billion - K–12 schools & instruction
      • $4.8 billion - School operations
      • $2.1 billion - Early Childhood Birth-to-Five services
      • $260 million or 1% - Superintendents and field offices
      • $200 million or 1% - Central administrative offices

      $16.4 billion (42%) goes to:

      • $7.4 billion - Employee benefits & pension
      • $3.4 billion - Debt payments
      • $3.0 billion - State-mandated payments to charter schools
      • $2.6 billion - Non-public & contract schools per Special Education mandate

      A Closer Look at Our Operations Budget

      What Does Our $4.8 Billion School Operations Budget Support?

      Decorative Image showing how operations budget is spent.
      • $2.1 billion - Facilities & Utilities. Across our system, there are over 135,000,000 square feet of space cleaned, maintained, and receiving utilities such as water and electrical service.
      • $1.7 billion - Student Transportation. This includes operation of roughly 9,000 bus routes, serving 150,000 students across the city and beyond.
      • $600 million - Food. NYCPS serves 800,000 meals served daily, with free breakfast and lunch available to all students.
      • $300 million - School Safety Agents. The safety of students and staff is our top priority, supported by 4,000 school safety agents across our schools.

        Much of this funding goes to support our workers: over 8,000 food workers, over 8,700 bus drivers and 7,200 bus attendants, over 800 custodian engineers, 5,200 cleaners and handypersons.

        A Closer Look at Our Schools & Instructional Budget

        What Does the $15.5 Billion K–12 School & Instructional Budget Support?

        Decorative image of pie chart showing how NYCPS spends its instructional budget.

        • $11.7 billion - Salaries for Classroom Staff and School Leadership, accounting for 74,000 teachers; 5,200 principals, assistant principals, and deans; 5,300 social workers/school counselors; 3,000 school secretaries; 21,000 paraprofessionals; and about 2,000 other staff
        • $1.7 billion - Supplies and Supports for Schools, including textbooks, professional development, curricula, and computers used by students and staff across our schools
        • $1.1 billion - Direct Student Services, provided by over 400 Community Schools, over 400 Pathways and other Career and Technical Education programs, over 200 Project Pivot programs.  Summer Rising crosses categories and will support 110,000 students with academic instruction and Community Based Organization enrichment
        • $1.0 billion - Other Staff Costs, accounting for 7,500 school aides, 2,900 therapists, 2,700 parent coordinators/community coordinators, and 1,900 other staff across our schools

          How Has Our Budget Changed Over Recent Years?

          Since the 2018–2019 school year, per-student spending has grown by over 20%, primarily due to stimulus funding.

          Please note that per-student spending only includes students at NYC Public Schools facilities; per State guidelines, this figure excludes debt service, transportation, and food costs.

          Fiscal Year (FY)Stimulus Budget Total DOE Budget Per-Student
          Spending
          FY 2019 N/A$33.6B $25,810
          FY 2020 N/A$34.5B $26,236
          FY 2021 $0.9B $34.5B $27,046
          FY 2022 $2.8B $37.7B $31,259
          FY 2023 $2.0B $37.6B $30,738
          FY 2024 projections$2.0B$39.4B$31,256*
          FY 2019-FY 2024 change N/A$4.9B $5,447
          % Growth (FY2019-FY2024)N/A15% 21%
          *Updated as of September 2023

          Capital Budget

          New York City Public Schools leverages capital funding to build new schools, renovate existing schools and purchase equipment, which is managed and administered by the NYC School Construction Authority.

          School Budgets

          Fair Student Funding

          Fair Student Funding (FSF) is the main source of money for most schools. With input from the School Leadership Team, principals decide how to spend these funds to meet basic educational needs. 

          FSF is based on the number of students enrolled at each school and the needs of those students. This budgeting method is called a weighted pupil-funding model. You can find more information on our FSF page.

          In July, 2022 the Chancellor convened a Working Group to develop recommendations for potential changes to Fair Student Funding.  You can find more information on the Fair Student Funding Working Group on our Infohub.

            School Allocation Memoranda (SAMs)

            Schools receive notifications about all direct allocations including FSF by means of School Allocation Memoranda (SAMs). SAMs explain the specific purposes of each source of funds.

            You can find SAMs on our Infohub. The written description in each SAM provides:

            • purpose of the funds
            • background about the funds
            • source of the funds
            • how the funds should be used

            Financial Reporting

            We publish several school based financial reports and other reports required by law. You can access all these financial reports on our InfoHub.