Funding Our Schools

2023-2024 Budget

For the 2023-2024 school year, our total budget is $37.5 billion. Of that:

• New York City provides 53%
• NY State provides 37%
• The Federal government and other sources provide 10%

2022-2023 Budget

For the 2022-2023 school year, our total budget is $37.6 billion. Of that:

• New York City provides 54%
• NY State provides 36%
• The Federal government and other sources provide 10%

Capital Budget

A separate Capital Budget of over $20 billion over five years is administered by the NYC School Construction Authority to build new schools, renovate existing schools and purchase equipment.

How Is NYC Public Schools’ $37.6 B Budget Spent?

$15.5 billion or 41% goes to:

• 7.3 billion employee benefits & pension
• $3.2 billion debt payments
• $3 billion state-mandated payments to charter schools
• $2 billion non-public & contract schools per Special Education mandates

Of the remaining $22.1 billion, or 59%:

• $2.2 billion Early Childhood Birth-to-Five services
• $4.3 billion school operations
• $300 million – or 1% - superintendents and field offices
• $300 million – or 1% - Central administrative offices
• $15.1 billion K–12 schools & instruction

A Closer Look at Our Operations Budget

The investments we make in getting our schools ready for our students and staff.

What Does Our $4.3 Billion School Operations Budget Support?

• 800,000 meals served daily, with free breakfast and lunch available to all students
• Roughly 9,000 bus routes, serving 150,000 students across the city and beyond
• Over 100,000,000 square feet of space cleaned, maintained, and receiving utilities such as water and electrical service
• 4,000 school safety agents across our schools

Much of this funding goes to support our workers: over 7,700 food workers, over 8,500 bus drivers and 7,200 bus attendants, over 860 custodian engineers, 5,700 cleaners and handypersons

A Closer Look at Our Schools & Instructional Budget

The investments we make in the people who educate and care for our students.

What Does the $15.1 Billion K–12 School & Instructional Budget Support?

• Classroom and school leadership staff: 73,000 teachers; 5,000 principals, assistant principals, and deans; 5,000 social workers/school counselors; 3,000 school secretaries; 20,000 paraprofessionals; and about 2,000 other staff
• Other school staff: 6,500 school aides, 2,700 therapists, 2,400 parent coordinators/community coordinators, and 2,100 other staff across our schools
• Materials and supports for staff and students: textbooks, professional development, curricula, and computers used by students and staff across our schools 
• Direct services for students: Over 400 community schools, approximately 300 Career Pathways and other Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, and over 200 Project Pivot programs
• Summer Rising for over 100,000 students

Where Does Our Funding Come From?

The taxes paid by you and your neighbors are what fund our public schools! Funding generally comes from income and corporate taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes.

The NYC Public Schools budget for the 2022–23 school year (Fiscal Year 23) is $37.6 Billion.

• 54% comes from New York City ($20B)
• 36% comes from the New York State ($13B)
• 5% comes from Federal stimulus funding ($2B)
• 5% comes from other Federal funding ($2B)
• The remainder (under 1%, or approximately $0.2B) comes from Private or other sources.

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 funding only includes students at NYC Department of Education facilities; per State guidelines, this figure excludes Debt Service, Transportation, and Food costs.

More About 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 out more information about FSF on our InfoHub.

You can also view the following information about any school’s FSF budget:

• The Fair Student Funding Overview explains how each school’s FSF amount is calculated. It also details how the school’s funding has changed from the previous year.
• The Fair Student Funding Detail shows the number of students in each FSF category. It also shows the changes from the previous year in each category.
• For more information on the Fair Student Funding Working Group, please see visit this page: https://infohub.nyced.org/reports/financial/financial-data-and-reports.

School Allocation Memoranda (SAMs)

In addition to FSF, schools receive other funding through School Allocation Memoranda (SAMs). SAMs give money to schools for specific purposes. Schools can then budget for the needed services, such as teachers and supplies.

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

Other Financial Reports

We publish other financial reports on our InfoHub. These are required by law and include:

• Financial Status Reports (FSRs)
  • Are published six times a year
  • Give updates about the budget for the current year
• Audited Financial Statements
  • Are published annually
  • Evaluate the financial condition of the DOE by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
• School-Based Expenditure Reports
  • Are published once per year
  • Estimate per pupil spending in each fiscal year
    • Estimates are based on school data (such as registers) and the total dollars spent at the school
• New York State School Transparency Forms
  • Are published once per year
  • Represent DOE budget projections system wide and on a per-school basis as per State-defined reporting categories.

NYC Public Schools' Financial Future

• Under State law, New York City must balance its budget every year – expenses cannot exceed revenues.
• There are additional financial challenges ahead:
  • Temporary federal stimulus funding runs out in September 2024. This funding supports over $700 million in recurring expenses such as 3-K, Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL), the Arts, community schools, and social workers. 
  • The State’s new class size mandate is expected to cost $1.3 billion annually by 2028, in addition to $30-$35 billion in facilities costs.
  • Economic conditions such as inflation and stock market declines have affected the City’s tax revenue, resulting in less money for municipal services – including schools.
  • Mandatory costs such as Carter cases and benefits are growing rapidly.