School districts presenting budgets to voters on Tuesday, May 20, plan to spend an average of $35,012 per student, up 4.6 percent from the current school year, according to new state data.

Data collected by the state Education Department and made searchable below show most districts (502) plan to increase total spending by more than inflation (2.3 percent), even as only 89 of the 667 districts expect enrollment to increase by one percent or more and more than a third of districts (271) expect enrollment declines of at least one percent.

The data do not include the “Big 5” school districts – Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers, which do not present budgets for voter approval.

In three-quarters of districts (520), per pupil spending is set to rise more than the expected 2.3 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index  forecast by state officials for calendar 2025.

Every district plans to spend at least $22,000 per student, more than half of districts plan to spend at least $35,000 and 48 districts plan to spend more than $50,000. Nationally, US schools spent an average of $16,526 during fiscal year 2023, according to the most recent census data.

On a regional basis, Long Island districts plan to spend the most per student ($39,653), followed by the Mid-Hudson region at $38,192. Western New York districts, the lowest among all regions, are together set to spend the least ($29,288). Per-pupil spending, measured at the county level, will exceed $26,000 in all 57 counties outside New York City.

The new state budget unveiled last week increases state aid to public schools by $1.7 billion or 4.9 percent, to a new annual total of $37.6 billion. Despite record multi-year increases in state school aid, more than half of the school districts (385) plan to also hike their property tax levies faster than inflation. The largest planned increases are:

• New Lebanon (15.0 percent)
• Plattsburgh (13.9 percent)
• Belfast (13.8 percent)
• Kiryas Joel (13.1 percent)
• Waverly (10.5 percent)
• Hamilton (9.2 percent)
• Marlboro (9.0 percent)
• Indian Lake (8.9 percent)
• Schroon Lake (8.3 percent)
• Corning City (7.9 percent)

This is the 15th budget cycle since New York adopted a cap on the growth of property taxes, including school taxes. Under that law, a district can increase its tax levy no more than 2% in any year or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, unless an override is approved by 60% of voters. This applies to all local governments and school districts except for the “Big Five” city school districts.

For the 2025-26 school year, nearly half of districts (303) plan to increase property taxes by exactly as much as New York’s property tax cap allows without approval from 60 percent of voters. Forty districts plan to override their caps. Moriah CSD has proposed to exceed its cap by 20 percent while Plattsburgh CSD has proposed to override its cap by 15 percent.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.