Per-pupil costs on Long Island projected to hit record high of nearly $42G

Education may be priceless, but on Long Island it isn’t cheap.

The cost to educate students on Long Island has hit a record high, with districts projected to spend an average $41,913 per student this year, up from about $39,000 last year, a Newsday analysis shows.

The rising costs of health insurance, salaries, fuel and other essentials contribute to the increase, along with the need to meet state and federal mandates on special education and other services, Long Island school district officials said.

Long Island schools’ costs are rising faster than the metropolitan area's inflation rate, which was 4.3% in August, according to federal figures.

“It costs more money to do business on Long Island,” said Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association. Along with other expenses, he said, “salaries are higher here because of regional cost differences, without a doubt.”

Vecchio said, “Are costs too high? I would say there's a general sentiment that costs are too high, but a lot of those costs are out of the control of the local school boards and are really dictated by the state or the federal government.”

Some critics argued New York taxpayers are spending too much on schools that lag behind other states in academic performance.

Statewide, students met or exceeded proficiency standards in English and math at rates of 53.2% and 55.1%, respectively. Long Island students performed better, at rates of 55.5% and 60.1%, the most recent available figures show.

Many local institutions get stellar results, with 110 Long Island schools being named to the 2025 Advanced Placement honor roll, which evaluates students' results on high school AP tests. Schools in Jericho, Syosset and Port Jefferson were among the 23 on Long Island to receive platinum awards, the top honor.

“Long Island is doing better than the New York average, but that is a relatively low bar," said Zilvinas Silenas, president and chief executive of the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank.

Long Island’s projected per-student cost was higher than New York’s average of $37,019 this year, Newsday’s analysis shows. It also is more than double the 2024 national average of $17,619 per student, according to federal data.

The average cost was $42,529 in Nassau County and $41,371 in Suffolk County, Newsday's analysis showed.

Newsday calculated the per-student cost using voter-approved budgets and projected district enrollments compiled in the New York State Department of Education’s 2026-27 Property Tax Report Card. That is a common way of calculating per-pupil costs, though some government agencies employ more complex methods.

The calculations do not account for the cost of sending students to schools such as charters, institutions for students with special needs and out-of-district middle and high schools. Those tuition costs are typically part of a district’s budget.

The state’s projected enrollment numbers do not include all students who attend out-of-district schools. In addition, no enrollment figures were released for the Sagaponack and Wainscott districts due to their small sizes.

Tuition costs cited

Local districts’ expenses vary dramatically, from roughly $30,000 to $35,000 per student in some of Long Island’s largest districts, including William Floyd, Patchogue-Medford and Middle Country, to more than triple that amount, particularly in certain small districts on the East End, according to a Newsday analysis of preliminary data from the Property Tax Report Card.

The highest reported cost on Long Island was on Fire Island, where state figures show the district was projected to serve 42 students this year in the district’s preK-to-sixth-grade school. The tiny, remote district also pays $567,000 in tuition for out-of-district placements, including 17 students who attend seventh through 12th grade at Bay Shore and Islip schools. The district’s total budget is $6.2 million, which officials say works out to about $134,000 per in-district student.

“While the per-student cost sounds extraordinarily high, individual Fire Island homeowners have one of the lowest school district tax burdens on Long Island,” Ron Edelson, a spokesman for the district, said in an email. For that reason, taxpayers on Fire Island have rejected proposals to consolidate with larger districts, he said. The district’s budget passed by a 34-3 vote this year.

In some districts with large numbers of out-of-district placements, officials said their per-student spending is lower than it appears.

In Hempstead, the district’s budget of $378 million covers the cost to educate more than 4,000 students in district schools, as well as 3,394 in charter schools and 650 in other out-of-district placements, according to district figures.

Newsday's analysis put the district's per-pupil cost at $84,989. But if the expenses for out-of-district students and those attending charter schools are excluded, Hempstead officials said the district actually spends $43,946 per student.

Hempstead school Superintendent Gary Rush said in a statement the district faces “double-digit increases in employee health insurance, rising transportation costs, expanded mental health services, and the substantial cost of providing the educational supports and programming required to meet the needs of our English as a New Language (ENL) and special education populations.”

He said, “Hempstead is committed to being fiscally responsible while continuing to provide every student with the educational opportunities and supports they need to succeed. But addressing these challenges will require a broader conversation at the state level about how New York funds public education.”

Rising expenses

Educators said they are working hard to limit costs while maintaining the high quality of Long Island schools, which are among the region’s major attractions to many families.

On the East End, school districts share services and, in some cases, send older students to middle schools and high schools in other districts, said Jeffrey Ryvicker, superintendent in Quogue. School officials in small districts, he said, “have done a tremendous job in trying to share services to defray the cost of having to employ full-time employees.”

Quogue’s elementary school was projected to serve 111 students in pre-K through sixth grade, according to state figures. That figure does not include the 44 students who attend schools such as Westhampton Beach’s middle and high school, Ryvicker said. The Quogue district pays tuition for those students, he said.

Newsday's analysis, which divided the Quogue district’s $11.3 million budget by its elementary school population, determined its per-student cost to be about $101,000. But Ryvicker said if the calculations include the 44 students whose tuition is paid from the district’s budget, the cost is less than $71,000.

The district’s budget passed this year  in a 94-12 vote.

“Because we're so small, we're able to provide a highly specialized elementary education,” Ryvicker said. But, he said, for higher grades that require Advanced Placement classes and other programs, it makes more sense to send students to larger schools.

In Central Islip, where Newsday estimates per-pupil costs are $38,925 this year, 168 students attend charter schools and 399 receive special education services at out-of-district schools, said Frank Bacchi, assistant superintendent for business.

“Like other public-school districts across Long Island, our district faces pressure from general inflationary costs across all operational line items,” Bacchi said in a statement. “The most significant cost drivers include rising health insurance premiums, specialized student services, student transportation, utilities, and technology investments.”

He continued, “These cost pressures require ongoing, disciplined fiscal planning during each annual budget cycle.”

In Island Park, the district pays tuition for 321 students to attend high school in Long Beach, and its budget also includes three charter school students and 40 special education students who receive services outside the district, a spokeswoman said.

Superintendent Vincent Randazzo said in a statement,  "like households and businesses across the state, school districts have experienced significant increases in the cost of goods and services."

Montauk school Superintendent Joshua Odom said in a small district, many costs are fixed.

"If I have a classroom that has 15 students in it, or I have a classroom that has 20 students in it, my costs, by and large, for operating that classroom are the same," he said. "I'll still have to have a teacher. I'll still have to heat it. I'll still have to have appropriate materials in the classroom."

Plus, he said, the district's health insurance expenses have jumped by more than 50% since 2020, making up about 10% of its budget, he said. The pre-K to eighth grade district also pays tuition for more than 115 students to attend East Hampton High School and other institutions, he said. 

Student enrollment down

The cost pressures are amplified by declining enrollment across Long Island, experts said.

Preliminary figures show Long Island schools were set to enroll 402,760 students this academic year — down 2% from last year, a Newsday analysis showed.

Long Island school enrollment has dropped by 11.8% since 2010, according to a report in July by the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission. Over the same period, schools across the country saw a smaller decline of 2.4%, the group reported.

Two years ago, New York spent nearly $32,000 per pupil on average, the commission reported. New Jersey and Massachusetts spent less — with costs lower by 15% and 23% respectively in those states — but did better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, the commission found.

On eighth grade reading tests in 2024, Massachusetts ranked first in the nation and New Jersey came in second, while New York ranked 24th, according to the report. Results were similar on eighth grade math tests, with Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York ranking first, third and 27th, respectively.

"New York spends more per student on education than any other state ... with middling results," Andrew Rein, the commission's president, said in a statement.

Silenas, with the Empire Center, said New York schools need to find ways to cuts costs and improve academic performance, though he said there are no quick fixes or easy answers that apply to all districts.

“The first step in change is admitting you have a problem,” he said. “First step, admit we have a problem in terms of high spending and low achievement, and then just, you know, focus on ‘What can we do differently?’ ”