(The Center Square) \u2014 A half-dozen school districts in New York state reported spending more than $70,000 per student recently, with two districts spending almost or more than $100,000, an investigation by The Center Square found.<\/p>\n
Each of the six districts were among the smallest in the state, with fewer than 340 students. Still, the figures dwarfed those of a typical pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school district in the Empire State in 2023-\u201924. According to the New York State Department of Education, the median figure for per-pupil spending was $35,095.<\/p>\n
The Empire State\u2019s highest spending schools were comparable not to their public counterparts but rather the nation\u2019s most elite boarding schools and expensive private colleges.<\/p>\n
Woodside Priory, a private-school run by Benedictine monks in Portola Valley, California, charged its boarding students more than any other in the country \u2013 $84,660 in 2023-\u201924, according to the school\u2019s website. Pepperdine University, a private Christian school in Malibu, California, charged $90,012 for an on-campus student the same school year.<\/p>\n
By contrast, Fire Island Unified School District, a small island off the coast of Long Island, reported spending nearly $50,000 more \u2013 $132,196 per pupil, according to state data. A school district spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n
Even less munificent New York school districts compare themselves to private schools. Consider Tuxedo Unified School District, an outer suburb of New York City, which reported spending $69,818 per student in 2023-\u201924. Its website boasts that schools there offer a \u201cprivate school atmosphere in a public-school setting.\u201d A school district spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking commenty.<\/p>\n
Zilvinas Silenas, president of The Empire Center, a non-profit, non-partisan watchdog, called the spending figures \u201camong the highest in the world.\u201d A former high school teacher in his native Lithuania, Silenas said taxpayers should cast a skeptical eye at school district spending. \u201cNew York State has spent increasing amounts of money on the public schools since 1969, and what results have we gotten?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Silenas added that The Empire Center plans to release a report on out-of-control public school spending this month.<\/p>\n
The study would come at a time when the topics of affordability and government spending have been obsessive issues in New York City\u2019s mayoral race. Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman, has proposed universal childcare, government-run grocery stores, and fare-free city buses. His plan would cost $7 billion, with $6 billion of that from free childcare for children five and younger.<\/p>\n
The other New York school district that spent more than the country\u2019s most elite boarding schools, at $92,586, was Bridgehampton Union Free School District in Suffolk County. Superintendent Dr. Mary T. Kelly cited the district\u2019s small size \u2013 198 students in 2023-\u201924 \u2013 as a cost-prohibitive feature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn very small districts, fixed operational costs (staffing, facilities, utilities, transportation, technology infrastructure, and required services such as special education and health\/safety compliance) are distributed over a far smaller student population\u201d,\u201d Kelly wrote in an email. “This means that even though our expenditures are prudent and often below average on a per-program basis, the per-pupil ratio is naturally much higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that the school district offers Advanced Placement courses, career and technical education, performing arts, special education, and transportation in a far-flung district. \u201cAll must be provided regardless of enrollment size,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fire Island had even fewer students \u2013 34 in 2023-\u201924. A resort town, the island has no paved roads, an all-natural feature that the school district addresses by using an all-terrain bus to take students to its lone school, The Woodhull School.<\/p>\n
Despite Fire Island’s and Bridgehampton\u2019s small enrollments, other small school districts in the Empire State reported spending significantly less than both.<\/p>\n
Roxbury Central School District, in the rural town of Roxbury within the Catskill Mountains, spent $47,732 for its 227 students from pre-kindergarten through high school, according to state figures. Colton-Pierrepont Central School District, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, spent $30,806 per pupil for its 381 students.<\/p>\n
One difference between Roxbury and Colton-Pierrepont school districts and its high-spending counterparts was teacher salaries.<\/p>\n
The median annual teacher salary in Roxbury was $60,517 and in Colton-Pierrepont it was $62,742 in 2023-\u201924, according to The Empire Center. By contrast, the typical annual salary for a teacher in Fire Island was more than twice as much \u2013 $135,401, according to the state figures. In Bridgehampton, the figure was $97,345.<\/p>\n
Kelly, Bridgehampton\u2019s superintendent, disputed that teacher salaries were the main reason for high district spending. \u201cOur teacher and staff salaries are in line with surrounding East End districts and regional labor market standards,\u201d she wrote in an email. \u201cSalaries are not the primary driver of our higher per-pupil expenditure. Rather, it is the fixed cost structure and breadth of services relative to a small student body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three other school districts spent more than $70,000 per pupil in 2023-\u201924. Two were in Suffolk County in eastern Long Island \u2013 Quogue Union Free School District at $86,163, and Amagansett Union Free School District at $78,916. The other was in Westchester County, a suburb of New York City, Pocantico Hills Central School District, at $71,439.<\/p>\n
10 Smells That Would Be Perfect For A WNY Scratch & Sniff Stamp<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Brett Alan<\/a><\/p>\n The Center Square<\/b> is a project of the 501(c)(3) Franklin News Foundation. We engage readers with essential news, data and analysis \u2013 delivered with velocity, frequency and consistency. If you would like to read the original article, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2014 A half-dozen school districts in New York state reported spending more than $70,000 per…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":302340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,153585,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-302339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-news-in-new-york","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkcity","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115371961792989271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}