Help may be on the way for the Hempstead School District, which is currently facing a deficit of tens of millions of dollars for its 2025-26 academic budget.
State Sen. Siela Bynoe has pushed for the inclusion of one-time stopgap spending of $24 million in the state’s proposed budget to heavily cut into Hempstead’s deficit.
Bynoe said her proposal has received support from Senate leadership and would help the district avoid massive cuts. The district also said it will dip into its reserves to cover other parts of the deficit.
The district issued a plea for financial relief from the state on Thursday, March 6, to avoid cuts in the face of a deficit exceeding $30 million for the 2025-26 school year.
The largest proposed change by the district was to decrease the number of active elementary schools from five to four, which was later determined to be David Patterson Elementary School.
Hempstead Superintendent Susan Johnson also said that up to 15 teachers and nine administrators would potentially lose their jobs due to the closure and that further cuts to staff, salaries, special services, field trips and supplies had all been discussed. Other administrators said that the deficit may negatively impact the curriculum and programs.
“For the 2025-2026 school budget in Hempstead, we are reliant on the partnership with the state and the local community in supporting the education of all students,” Hempstead Board of Education President Victor Pratt said in a statement on March 21. “The origin of this fiscal crisis is the ever-increasing and onerous increased costs associated with charter schools.”
The district’s main financial struggles were attributed to an expected $106.4 million payout in charter school tuition payments for the upcoming school year, an increase of nearly $20 million for the 2024-2025 school year.
Public schools are required to pay tuition for each student attending a charter school, but the amount varies greatly between districts.
Hempstead paid $26,196 per student this year and is expected to pay $28,486 next year, according to the district’s budget. Roughly 36% of students within the district attend a charter school, one of the highest percentages in the state and the highest on Long Island.
Pratt said four local charter schools have taken 3,151 Hempstead-zoned students out of the district’s public school system for the 2024-25 school year. The SUNY Board of Trustees said a fifth charter school will open in the area for the 2026-27 academic year as well.
Bynoe also filed a bill to provide additional state funding to school districts where more than 20% of their students attend charter schools. The bill would also create a five-mile radius around affected communities to protect those districts from additional charter schools entering the area.
“Parents want options, and we understand that charter schools have provided the options that they would like to see in educating their young scholars, but we have to find a balance because the saturation of the charter schools is creating a disparate impact on public school budgets and their abilities to continue services and maintain the integrity of their educational plan,” the senator said.
At its first budget meeting on Feb. 26, the district proposed a $348,369,676 budget for the upcoming academic year, marking a 6.01% increase from the 2024-25 budget. That includes Nassau County’s highest state aid figure, $239,749,576, proposed in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s January budget announcement.
But that total is just $4 million higher than the 2024-25 figure given to the district which the district said was not enough.
Part of the governor’s financial package includes funding for charter school transition aid – which the school will receive nearly half of the $10.9 million it received this year for the 2025-26 school year.
The additional funding added to the proposed state budget would provide temporary relief for the district. However, Bynoe said a plan needs to be developed to address the district’s financial situation moving forward.
The governor’s education 2025-26 budget is expected to be finalized by April 1.
