New York City students who went back to classes last week did so in the most inefficient public schools in the nation. Even as families flood out of the system and into alternatives, the city’s education budget continues to rise. No city spends more to achieve such mediocre results for its children.
Since 2020, New York City public schools have lost nearly 70,000 students in grades K–12—equivalent to 8 percent of their student population—according to the 2024–25 Demographic Snapshot report released last month. This drop occurred despite an influx of 48,000 recent immigrant students since the summer of 2022.
During the same period, the New York City Department of Education budget increased from $34.5 billion to $40 billion. According to New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, education spending accounts for 35.5 percent of the city’s total budget.
This mismatch between falling attendance and rising budgets has resulted in an official per-pupil spending total of $32,284, making New York City public schools the most expensive in the nation. The Citizens Budget Commission estimates that this per-pupil figure will pass $41,000 by next year.
No other school district in America comes close to these levels of per-student spending. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Annual Survey of School System Finances shows that New York City is the only district spending more than $30,000 per child. The next biggest spender, the District of Columbia, spent $27,425 per child that year.
If this massive budget were delivering outstanding results for our kids, such amounts might be understandable. Instead, a significant number of New York City students are struggling with literacy, unable to perform basic math, and frequently truant. Despite the lowering of standards in state tests over the past few years, over 40 percent of New York City students in third through eighth grade failed to demonstrate proficiency in reading and math. Additionally, almost 35 percent of all students are chronically absent, defined as missing more than 10 percent of school days.
Families are reacting to these disappointing results by exploring options outside the public school system. The homeschool population in New York City has grown from under 9,000 in 2020 to more than 15,000 in 2024—an increase of more than 68 percent.
This growth has occurred despite New York being one of the least accommodating states for homeschooling families. The state does not allow homeschool students to dual-enroll in selected public school classes and provides no financial assistance to families. As one family reported, “As a homeschooler in New York City, all you get is an OMNY card and tons of requests for forms and reports.”
New York City’s black families, in particular, have been leaving public schools in large numbers over the past two decades. In 2004, the city enrolled 231,247 black students in grades K–12, representing 32.5 percent of the district’s enrollment. In 2024, K–12 black student enrollment was down to just 105,870, representing only 17.5 percent of students in the entire district. This represents a 54 percent drop in the black student population in 20 years.
Not all the news has been bad. Mayor Eric Adams and former Schools Chancellor David C. Banks revamped the literacy curriculum with NYC Reads, now in place in all 32 school districts across the city. The new curriculum is based on the “science of reading”—the large body of research that shows kids need both systematic phonics instruction and a content-rich curriculum to build their vocabulary and become successful readers. Though city officials incorrectly claim that the curriculum is already generating test-score gains, the new approach should lead to improved literacy rates if the next mayor remains committed to it.
Mayor Adams has also been addressing (if slowly) the need to close empty schools—a problem that nearly every large city will face. Since 2021, Mayor Adams has closed or merged 15 schools that were too small to remain financially viable.
In the long term, the key question for the city’s Department of Education is how or whether it will retain students as more charter schools open (five new ones started up just this school year), homeschooling pods expand, and federal scholarships become available for low-income families (pending Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to opt in to a program created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act).
Though the candidates for New York City mayor have mostly stayed quiet about their plans, education policy will be one of the biggest challenges facing the winner.
Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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