The numbers couldn’t be clearer.
Rather than serve to even the playing field for kids, Nassau County’s public schools give the children of the affluent a substantial advantage.
An analysis of school funding by Blank Slate Media shows a cavernous disparity in school spending per pupil, ranging from as much as $45,000 to less than $23,000 on the North Shore.
If this disparity reflected an attempt for equity in education, the schools with the highest spending per pupil would be in less affluent districts where more parents don’t have the money for tutors or time to lend their personal instruction.
But just the opposite is true.
The schools spending the most per pupil have the higher-priced homes, sizable business districts or both.
This includes the North Shore School District, which in the next school year will be spending $45,600 per pupil; the East Williston School District, $41,100; Great Neck, $39,500; and Roslyn, $38,804.
This is destiny by zip code with some children winning and some children losing starting at an early age.
For instance, the New Hyde Park-Garden Park School District, which consists only of elementary schools with one less than a mile from the Great Neck School District, spends $27,043 per pupil – over $12,000 less than Great Neck.
Does this make a difference?
Well, if state and national rankings are accurate, they do.
Great Neck was recognized as the top school district in New York by Niche, an online rating service, in 2021 followed by Roslyn at No. 3, Manhasset at No. 6, Herricks at No. 7, North Shore at No. 17, East Williston at No. 24 and Port Washington at No. 25. The Mineola school district came in as the 122nd ranked district on the list.
Nationally, the Great Neck school district was ranked as the third-best district, with Roslyn (No. 7), Manhasset (19), Herricks (29), North Shore (69), East Williston (96) and Port Washington (100) also featured in the list of the top 100 school districts.
The quality of a district’s education also has direct economic consequences for district residents.
Highly rated school districts attract new home buyers who help maintain or even raise the value of homes around them.
It also shines a light on the cost to black and brown families in Nassau County, one of the most segregated large counties in the United States, who until recently were being steered by some unsavory real estate agents to areas based on race.
We also know that less affluent homeowners have borne a disproportionate share of Nassau County’s dysfunctional assessment system.
The primary reason for this disparity in spending per pupil in Nassau County is the main way school districts across New York State are funded – the property tax. The higher the value of homes and businesses, the more revenue for schools.
The property tax is itself an unfair way of generating revenue since it’s based on the value of a home rather than the homeowner’s ability to pay. A couple who bought their home 50 years ago and saw the value rise to many times the purchase price may be stuck with a large tax bill when they are no longer working.
Residents living in districts with both high-priced homes and many retail stores and offices can see a significant portion of their tax bill covered by commercial property owners.
Great Neck residents, for instance, only pay about half the $261.4 million cost of spending for the district’s 6,612 students because of its large commercial base.
Congressman Tom Suozzi, a former Nassau County executive and current candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, said Great Neck residents actually pay the lowest rate in Nassau County.
Herricks, on the other hand, only receives about 5% of its property tax revenue from commercial businesses.
This helps explain why there are 56 school districts in Nassau County with little chance for consolidating them to save money.
Residents of a school district like Great Neck would likely strongly oppose merging with a district like Herricks, its neighbor to the south, because they would receive a smaller benefit from the businesses.
The state of New York has reduced the disparity in per-pupil spending with money raised mainly through the state income tax going to less affluent districts at a high rate than more affluent districts.
But the state funding has not sufficiently narrowed the disparity in spending per pupil. In fact, Roosevelt in Hempstead has been close to not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide a basic education.
And this year, as schools received a windfall of state funding thanks to COVID relief money, districts with lower spending per pupil received a lower percentage of the windfall.
School districts with lower spending per pupil have also been hamstrung by the state-imposed brake on rising costs – the so-called 2% tax cap.
The tax cap requires at least 60% of the public’s vote on a school budget rather than the usual 50% to exceed the 2% tax cap – a much higher bar to clear. That makes closing the gap in per-student spending that much harder.
What happens if inflation stays at its current 8.5%, the tax cap remains at 2% and the flow of COVID-related funds ends in a non-election year is anybody’s guess.
We know that education is essential to competing in the 21st century and an educated workforce is a key to Nassau County’s economic growth. We also know that poverty and bad education will lead to a greater chance of facing the criminal justice system.
And we like to think that as a people Americans have a strong sense of fairness.
We also know that families living in high-performing school districts with high per-pupil spending are happy that they are able to provide the best education to their children. The proof can be seen in residents who often complain about Nassau’s high taxes voting to approve rising school budgets year after year.
This is not surprising. Many families chose to move to their communities based on the quality of the schools. They have benefitted with both the quality education for their children and increases in the value of their homes.
So what’s to be done for those districts with lower spending per pupil?
Alan Singer, a professor of education and history at Hofstra University, told Blank Slate Media other districts should be taking notes from the Great Neck School District if they want to see their funds be put to the best possible use.
“The amount of money they spend on kids in their school districts, that’s the amount of money that should be spent on every kid in every school in the New York metropolitan area,” Singer said of Great Neck’s per pupil spending.
We don’t disagree.
One big question is where would you get the money?
An even bigger question is whether there is the will to have school districts financed fairly.
