Where Does the Money Come From…and Where Does It Go?
The Durham Public Schools budget is driven by the more than 32,000 students and the 4,200 employees we serve. We are the eighth-largest school system in the state and the third-largest employer in Durham County.
With funding from three main sources – local, state and federal – keeping up with what comes in and what goes out is a significant task.
Of the entire Durham Public Schools budget, 77 percent is spent on instruction.
Typically, state funds comprise 58 percent of DPS’s overall budget, with 35 percent coming from local (county) coffers and only 7 percent from federal sources. Our County Commissioners have been historically very supportive of our schools, as our local funding is 10 percentage points above that of school district averages across the state, which helps make up for the 7 percentage points less in state funding and 3 percent less in federal funding than district averages across the state.
Overall, 80 percent of DPS’s expenditures support salaries and benefits for our employees. Services and insurance comprise 10 percent of expenditures, while the rest is dedicated to supplies and equipment (7 percent), charter school funding (2 percent) and indirect costs (1 percent).
