District Salaries and Benefits

What Georgia school districts spend on salaries and benefits by staff category, with that spending as a share of district revenue and expenditures, 2011-2024.

Source: GOSA
Year coverage: 2011–2024
Updated: annual
Version: 1.1.0
Schema hash: ffaac60d83b2

Detail levels available

StateDistrict · default

Overview

Salary and benefit expenditures for Georgia public school districts (with RESA service-agency aggregates and the official state rollup) by staff category — teachers and paraprofessionals, school administration, and general administration — plus those salary+benefit totals as a share of four district revenue and expenditure bases. The underlying district revenue and expenditure ledgers those shares are computed against are published in the `k12_revenues` (revenue by funding source) and `k12_expenditures` (expenditure by function) topics. Published by GOSA for school years 2010-11 through 2023-24.

Row grain: One row per year, district_code, school_code, staff_category.

Key metric

salaries_and_benefits — Salaries and Benefits (currency)

The single headline value most answers want.

JSON schema →Data contract (YAML) →

Variables

Every column in the fact table. The code is the exact field name the API returns.

Column	Type	Unit	Range	Null?	Description
`year`Year	integer	—	—	no	Ending (spring) calendar year of the school year (e.g. 2024 for 2023-24), parsed from the source's LONG_SCHOOL_YEAR and cross-checked against the filename. Full description▾ Ending (spring) calendar year of the school year (e.g. 2024 for 2023-24), parsed from the source's LONG_SCHOOL_YEAR and cross-checked against the filename.
`district_code`District Code	string	—	—	yes	GOSA district code (FK to districts dimension): 3-digit zero-padded county/city codes or 7-digit state-charter codes. Codes 850-888 are the 16 Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) — service-agency aggregates kept at district detail (the dimension types them 'resa'); exclude them when analyzing traditional LEAs. NULL on state-level rows. Full description▾ GOSA district code (FK to districts dimension): 3-digit zero-padded county/city codes or 7-digit state-charter codes. Codes 850-888 are the 16 Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) — service-agency aggregates kept at district detail (the dimension types them 'resa'); exclude them when analyzing traditional LEAs. NULL on state-level rows. Joins districts; adds its label columns.
`school_code`School Code	string	—	—	yes	GOSA school code (composite FK to schools dimension with district_code). Always NULL in this district-only topic — the source reports no school-level detail (enforced by a quality check). Full description▾ GOSA school code (composite FK to schools dimension with district_code). Always NULL in this district-only topic — the source reports no school-level detail (enforced by a quality check). Joins schools; adds its label columns.
`staff_category`Staff Category	string	—	—	no	Which staff the dollars cover: teachers_and_paraprofessionals, school_administration, or general_administration (one row per category). Full description▾ Staff category the row's salary and benefit dollars cover: teachers_and_paraprofessionals, school_administration (principals and school-level administrators), or general_administration (district-office administration). Every entity carries exactly one row per category per year. 3 allowed values▾ `general_administration` `school_administration` `teachers_and_paraprofessionals`
`salaries`Salaries	number	currency	—	yes	Total salary dollars paid for the staff category. Rare small negatives are real refunds/restatements published by the source and preserved (one 2024 row at -2,000.00); no range check applies. Full description▾ Total salary dollars paid for the staff category. Rare small negatives are real refunds/restatements published by the source and preserved (one 2024 row at -2,000.00); no range check applies.
`benefits`Benefits	number	currency	—	yes	Total benefit dollars paid for the staff category. Rare small negatives are real refunds/restatements published by the source and preserved (one row each in 2011, 2012, and 2022; minimum -191,629.60); no range check applies. Full description▾ Total benefit dollars paid for the staff category. Rare small negatives are real refunds/restatements published by the source and preserved (one row each in 2011, 2012, and 2022; minimum -191,629.60); no range check applies.
`salaries_and_benefits`Salaries and Benefits	number	currency	—	yes	Total salary plus benefit dollars the district spent on this staff category in the year. Full description▾ Total salary plus benefit dollars for the staff category. Equals salaries + benefits within $1 in every row (source-published total; enforced by a quality check).
`pct_revenue_gf_title_lottery`Percent Revenue Gf Title Lottery	number	ratio	—	yes	Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of district revenue from General Fund / Title / Lottery sources (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file (school year 2020-21, the COVID year) systematically publishes values above 1.0 — including the state rollup — with a maximum of 1.2346 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published. Full description▾ Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of district revenue from General Fund / Title / Lottery sources (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file (school year 2020-21, the COVID year) systematically publishes values above 1.0 — including the state rollup — with a maximum of 1.2346 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published.
`pct_revenue_total_k12`Percent Revenue Total K12	number	ratio	—	yes	Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of total district K-12 revenue (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). The share is computed by GOSA against a total-revenue base that is NOT numerically reproducible from the `k12_revenues` topic (the implied base runs ~1.25-1.43x that ledger in every year), so do not divide this topic's dollars by that topic's totals. A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file publishes values up to 1.0413 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published. Full description▾ Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of total district K-12 revenue (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). The share is computed by GOSA against a total-revenue base that is NOT numerically reproducible from the `k12_revenues` topic (the implied base runs ~1.25-1.43x that ledger in every year), so do not divide this topic's dollars by that topic's totals. A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file publishes values up to 1.0413 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published.
`pct_expense_gf_title_lottery`Percent Expense Gf Title Lottery	number	ratio	—	yes	Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of district expenditures from General Fund / Title / Lottery funds (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file systematically publishes values above 1.0 — the state Teachers and Paraprofessionals rollup is 1.0798 and the maximum is 1.2731 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published. Full description▾ Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of district expenditures from General Fund / Title / Lottery funds (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file systematically publishes values above 1.0 — the state Teachers and Paraprofessionals rollup is 1.0798 and the maximum is 1.2731 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published.
`pct_expense_total_k12`Percent Expense Total K12	number	ratio	—	yes	Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of total district K-12 expenditures (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). The share is computed by GOSA against a total-expenditure base that is NOT numerically reproducible from the `k12_expenditures` topic (the implied base runs ~1.28-1.44x that ledger in every year), so do not divide this topic's dollars by that topic's totals. A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file publishes values up to 1.2103 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published. Full description▾ Salaries+benefits for the category as a share of total district K-12 expenditures (0-1 decimal scale; source publishes 0-100 and is divided by 100). The share is computed by GOSA against a total-expenditure base that is NOT numerically reproducible from the `k12_expenditures` topic (the implied base runs ~1.28-1.44x that ledger in every year), so do not divide this topic's dollars by that topic's totals. A ratio, not a bounded proportion: the 2021 file publishes values up to 1.2103 (2021 values run ~2x adjacent years across all metrics; likely a two-year-cumulative publication); preserved as published.

Filters

Query parameters the fact endpoint accepts. Comma-separated values are OR within a parameter; multiple parameters AND together.

Parameter	Kind	Allowed values	Notes
`year`	year_exact	any value	—
`year_min`	year_range	any value	—
`year_max`	year_range	any value	—
`detail`	detail	`districtsstates`	enum-enforced, default: districts
`district_code`	foreign_key	any value	multi-value
`school_code`	foreign_key	any value	multi-value
`staff_category`	categorical	`general_administrationschool_administrationteachers_and_paraprofessionals`	multi-value, enum-enforced, pick one
`district_type`	dimension_attribute	7 allowed values▾ `commission_charter` `resa` `standard` `state_agency` `state_charter` `state_school` `state_special`	multi-value, enum-enforced
`school_level`	dimension_attribute	`elementarymiddlehighk12other`	multi-value, enum-enforced
`locale`	dimension_attribute	`citysuburbtownrural`	multi-value, enum-enforced

Example requests

Run these against the base URL — they return live data.

All rows (first page), districts level

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/education/salaries_and_benefits"

districts data for 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/education/salaries_and_benefits?year=2024"

Filtered to staff_category = general_administration for 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/education/salaries_and_benefits?year=2024&staff_category=general_administration"

One district (code 601), 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/education/salaries_and_benefits?district_code=601&year=2024&detail=districts"

Download 2024 as CSV

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/education/salaries_and_benefits?year=2024&format=csv"

Notes & limitations

NULL handling

Zero is a real, reported value.

Limitations

State rows have NULL district_code. school_code is always NULL — this is a district-only topic (no school-level detail exists at the source). District-detail rows include the 16 Regional Education Service Agencies (district codes 850-888), which are service-agency aggregates rather than school districts — exclude district_code between '850' and '888' when analyzing traditional LEAs. The published state row's composition changes in 2014: for 2011-2013 it equals the sum of ALL district-detail rows (RESAs and 7-digit state charters included, exact to floating-point), while from 2014 onward it equals the sum of traditional 3-digit districts only, excluding both the 850-888 RESAs and every 7-digit state-charter code (summing all district rows overshoots the state row by 2.6-4.7% in those years). The four pct_* columns are decimal ratios that legitimately exceed 1.0 in 2021 (school year 2020-21): category spending exceeded the chosen bases that year, up to 1.2731 — the 2021 file runs ~2x adjacent years across all metrics (dollars included), consistent with a two-year-cumulative publication. No suppression exists in this topic — NULL never means suppressed.