Fargo Public Schools

Fargo Public Schools
Fargo Public Schools logo
Location
Fargo, North Dakota USA
Information
Type	Public
Established	1872
Locale	415 North 4th Street
Superintendent	Dr. Jeffrey M. Schatz
Faculty	965
Grades	K-12
Number of students	around 11,000

Fargo Public Schools (FPS) is a public school district in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. The district owns and operates in three comprehensive high schools, three middle schools, and fourteen elementary schools. FPS also operates an alternative high school and a special needs pre-school. Total student enrollment in FPS is around 11,000.

The Fargo Public Schools is governed by a nine-member Board of Education, whose members may serve an unlimited number of four-year terms. Board members oversee the district’s annual operating budget, which is $134 million during the 2013-14 school year. Currently, the school district’s operating levy is 139 mills. Sixty-nine percent of the district’s general fund revenue comes from the state’s foundation aid. The balance comes from property tax (30%), and the remaining 1% comprises federal funding, interest, and other sources. Of its expenses, 57% goes to Salaries. The remaining expenses include benefits (19%), fund transfers (6%), supplies (5%), purchased property services (5%), transportation and travel (4%), equipment (2%), contracted services (2%), and the remaining dues, fees, and registrations at less than 1%.

The school system employs more than 1,800 permanent employees. Included in that number are approximately 965 teachers, of which 59 percent hold a master's degree or higher. Specialists are placed in all district elementary buildings, to deliver instruction in visual arts, library/media services, music, and physical education.

All of the district’s teachers meet weekly in Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs, in order to improve teaching practices and student learning. Secondary teachers attend professional development days each semester that focus on improving the District’s educational process. This is in addition to the weekly professional development sessions offered to individuals and small groups throughout the year.

Also among its staff, through a partnership and cost-sharing agreement with the City of Fargo, are seven School Resource Officers, police officers who are placed in the district’s middle and high schools. They are a part of the Cass-Clay Unified School Response Network, which originated in the Fargo Public Schools in the mid-2000s.