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District profile / North Carolina

Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools

Winston Salem, North Carolina · Superintendent: Dr Randy Bridges · #4 of 112 North Carolina districts by enrollment

Compare with peers
52,430
Students
2024-25 school year
81
Schools
2024-25 school year
$10,626
Spending per student
FY2020-21 · about the same as the North Carolina median
14.2
Students per teacher
2024-25 · North Carolina median 15.7

Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools is a public school district based in Winston Salem, North Carolina, serving 52,430 students in 81 schools. By enrollment it ranks #4 of the 112 North Carolina districts with 1,000 or more students, larger than about 97% of them. Its schools average 647 students each, more than the North Carolina median of 446. Its superintendent is Dr Randy Bridges. It spends about $10,626 per student on day-to-day operations, about the state median. It has roughly 14.2 students per teacher. We've matched 21 news stories to the district.

How Winston Salem / Forsyth County compares

Winston Salem / Forsyth CountyNorth Carolina median, districts with 1,000+ students
Spending per student$10,626
North Carolina median $11,153 · about the same · FY2020-21
Instruction spending per student$7,087
North Carolina median $6,920 · about the same · FY2020-21
Students per school647
North Carolina median 446 · 45% above · 2024-25
Students per teacher14.2
North Carolina median 15.7 · 10% below · 2024-25
Students per counselor369
North Carolina median 358 · about the same · 2024-25

Spending and staffing

Where the money comes from$581.3 million in revenue · FY2020-21
Federal 13%State 61%Local 26%
MeasureWinston Salem / Forsyth CountyNorth Carolina medianYear
Current spending per student$10,626$11,153FY2020-21
Instruction spending per student$7,087$6,920FY2020-21
Total spending$624.1 millionn/aFY2020-21
Total revenue$581.3 millionn/aFY2020-21
Teachers (full-time equivalent)3,688n/a2024-25
Students per teacher14.215.72024-25
Students per counselor3693582024-25

Spending: NCES school district finance survey (F-33), FY2020-21. Staffing and enrollment: NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25. Via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal. The North Carolina median compares districts with 1,000 or more students.

Leadership

Moves tracker →

Dr Randy Bridges

Superintendent, Winston Salem / Forsyth County Schools

Source: NC Department of Public Instruction, EDDIE, checked 2026-10-19. Report a change

In the news

21 stories matched

Peer districts in North Carolina

Compare side by side →
DistrictStudentsSchoolsSpending per studentStudents per teacherRank
Guilford County SchoolsGreensboro67,620120$11,25415.1#3
Winston Salem / Forsyth County SchoolsWinston Salem · this district52,43081$10,62614.2#4
Cumberland County SchoolsFayetteville49,00286$10,28616.8#5
Union County Public SchoolsMonroe41,40452$9,73716.5#6
Johnston County Public SchoolsSmithfield37,32048$9,68117.0#7

Similar-size districts nationally

DistrictStudentsSpending per studentStudents per teacher
Omaha Public SchoolsOmaha, NE52,524$14,66516.7
Klein ISDKlein, TX52,437$9,83414.7
St. Johns CountySt Augustine, FL52,324$8,77118.4
District of Columbia Public SchoolsWashington, DC52,299$24,53511.0

Peers are the districts closest in enrollment, so they can still differ in many other ways. Enrollment, school counts and phone numbers are from the NCES Common Core of Data, 2024-25.

Printed from Superintendent's Corner: https://superintendentscorner.com/district-nc-winston-salem-forsyth-county-schools