Virginia

Q: How many public schools are in Virginia?

Virginia has 1,858 public schools across 132 school districts, serving approximately 1,251,564 students.

Q: What is the average per-pupil spending in Virginia?

The average per-pupil expenditure across Virginia's school districts is $16,302 — 14% above the national average of $14,347.

Q: What is the graduation rate in Virginia?

The average high school graduation rate across Virginia's school districts is 87.3%, which is above the national average of 86.5%.

Q: What percentage of students in Virginia qualify for free or reduced-price lunch?

On average, 62% of students across Virginia's school districts qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, compared to the national rate of 52.2%.

Q: Which school district in Virginia has the highest graduation rate?

Among Virginia's school districts with available data, Falls Church City Public Schools has the highest graduation rate at 98.0%.

Q: What standardized tests do students take in Virginia?

Virginia uses the SOL (Standards of Learning) to measure student academic progress and school performance.

1,858 Schools132 Districts1.3M Students

$16,302

Avg Per-Pupil Spend

+14% nat'l

61.6%

Free Lunch Rate

+9.4pp vs nat'l

87.3%

Graduation Rate

≈ nat'l avg

40/100

Opportunity Score

Limited

⇄ Compare Virginia with another state

About Virginia Public Schools

Virginia operates a localized school funding model in which cities and counties function as independent jurisdictions that fund schools from local revenues supplemented by state support — creating wide disparities between wealthy Northern Virginia suburbs (Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington) and rural southwestern and Southside Virginia districts. Fairfax County Public Schools is the 10th-largest in the US and consistently ranks among the most academically high-performing large urban systems in the country. Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments are among the oldest state accountability programs in the nation, having been introduced in 1998 amid significant controversy over their rigor and impact on curriculum. The state's recent education policy debates have centered on curriculum transparency, parental rights, and the pace of post-COVID academic recovery, which lagged in major urban districts.

Largest District

Fairfax County Public Schools

180K students

Highest Per-Pupil

Mecklenburg County Public Schools

$30,585/student

Top Graduation Rate

Falls Church City Public Schools

98.0% grad rate

School Districts (132)

Per-pupil spending in Virginia ranges from $11,377 to $30,585 across districts with available data. State avg: $16,302.

District	Schools	Students	Per-Pupil	Grad Rate	Free Lunch	Opp.
Large Districts — 10,000+ Students
Fairfax County Public Schools	199	180K	$19,816↑22%	88.8%	33.2%↓46%	54
Prince William County Public Schools	95	91K	$15,988	87.8%	47.3%↓23%	50
Loudoun County Public Schools	95	81K	$20,828↑28%	91.9%↑5%	25.9%↓58%	49
Virginia Beach City Public Schools	82	65K	$15,460↓5%	89.7%	45.4%↓26%	44
Chesterfield County Public Schools	63	62K	$13,693↓16%	89.0%	48.9%↓21%	44
Henrico County Public Schools	68	50K	$14,785↓9%	87.2%	58.3%↓5%	40
Chesapeake City Public Schools	45	41K	$15,216↓7%	90.5%	44.7%↓27%	42
Stafford County Public Schools	32	31K	$13,111↓20%	92.2%↑6%	40.6%↓34%	46
Arlington County Public Schools	36	28K	$27,865↑71%	87.4%	30.0%↓51%	46
Norfolk City Public Schools	45	27K	$15,957	78.7%↓10%	95.5%↑55%	35
Newport News City Public Schools	40	27K	$16,495	90.3%	88.0%↑43%	38
Spotsylvania County Public Schools	29	24K	$14,142↓13%	90.0%	54.0%↓12%	42
Richmond City Public Schools	47	21K	$22,807↑40%	66.0%↓24%	96.0%↑56%	35
Hampton City Public Schools	30	20K	$14,946↓8%	86.1%	83.9%↑36%	40
Hanover County Public Schools	23	17K	$13,555↓17%	92.8%↑6%	26.5%↓57%	48
Alexandria City Public Schools	18	16K	$21,602↑33%	75.0%↓14%	58.5%↓5%	48
Suffolk City Public Schools	19	14K	$14,809↓9%	86.8%	64.1%	37
Frederick County Public Schools	19	14K	$15,977	88.6%	41.4%↓33%	42
Albemarle County Public Schools	24	14K	$20,208↑24%	91.3%	36.3%↓41%	43
Roanoke County Public Schools	26	14K	$14,015↓14%	92.5%↑6%	40.8%↓34%	40
Roanoke City Public Schools	24	14K	$17,733↑9%	80.6%↓8%	98.7%↑60%	40
Portsmouth City Public Schools	22	13K	$14,083↓14%	80.7%↓8%	99.9%↑62%	42
York County Public Schools	19	13K	$14,125↓13%	94.5%↑8%	40.4%↓34%	48
Rockingham County Public Schools	23	11K	$14,845↓9%	90.7%	48.0%↓22%	40
Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools	16	11K	$14,988↓8%	89.3%	42.9%↓30%	42
Fauquier County Public Schools	19	11K	$15,346↓6%	91.7%	32.9%↓47%	44
Augusta County Public Schools	18	10K	$14,259↓13%	89.2%	50.2%↓19%	43
Medium Districts — 1,000–9,999 Students
Montgomery County Public Schools	19	9,693	$14,583↓11%	92.5%↑6%	41.1%↓33%	40
Bedford County Public Schools	19	9,084	$14,790↓9%	86.7%	55.6%↓10%	37
Culpeper County Public Schools	11	8,352	$13,197↓19%	87.6%	52.4%↓15%	38
Pittsylvania County Public Schools	18	7,918	$13,816↓15%	89.5%	81.0%↑31%	38
Campbell County Public Schools	13	7,873	$13,342↓18%	90.3%	72.2%↑17%	42
Lynchburg City Public Schools	16	7,856	$15,835	80.0%↓8%	94.2%↑53%	44
Manassas City Public Schools	9	7,413	$17,203↑6%	74.0%↓15%	70.2%↑14%	48
Henry County Public Schools	13	7,010	$13,643↓16%	84.5%	94.9%↑54%	38
Washington County Public Schools	15	6,737	$13,938↓15%	89.0%	70.9%↑15%	36
Harrisonburg City Public Schools	9	6,682	$22,050↑35%	83.0%	78.6%↑27%	39
Franklin County Public Schools	14	6,252	$15,054↓8%	88.0%	74.6%↑21%	37
Prince George County Public Schools	7	6,106	$13,162↓19%	90.0%	43.7%↓29%	41
Wise County Public Schools	11	5,913	$13,544↓17%	97.5%↑12%	85.0%↑38%	40
Danville City Public Schools	13	5,684	$19,837↑22%	73.7%↓16%	92.9%↑51%	39
Shenandoah County Public Schools	9	5,630	$16,309	90.1%	73.5%↑19%	40
Isle of Wight County Public Schools	9	5,627	$13,844↓15%	89.8%	40.9%↓34%	38
Tazewell County Public Schools	13	5,416	$12,499↓23%	83.6%	82.9%↑34%	41
Louisa County Public Schools	6	5,173	$15,878	87.0%	67.7%↑10%	38
Warren County Public Schools	9	5,165	$13,715↓16%	90.5%	65.8%↑7%	44
Gloucester County Public Schools	8	5,054	$15,966	87.0%	52.5%↓15%	41
Orange County Public Schools	9	5,035	$13,131↓19%	92.0%↑5%	60.5%	38
Accomack County Public Schools	11	4,726	$15,423↓5%	85.8%	107.6%↑75%	37
Halifax County Public Schools	10	4,620	$14,349↓12%	86.0%	92.3%↑50%	34

Showing 50 of 132

Frequently Asked Questions

How many public schools are in Virginia?

What is the average per-pupil spending in Virginia?

What is the graduation rate in Virginia?

What percentage of students in Virginia qualify for free or reduced-price lunch?

Which school district in Virginia has the highest graduation rate?

What standardized tests do students take in Virginia?

Data sourced from NCES Common Core of Data, EDFacts, and Opportunity Atlas. Figures reflect the most recent available federal dataset (2021-22 / 2022-23). Learn more about our data sources.