What IS the Average Cost per Student?

Many sites purport to compare the cost per student among various school districts. Many, even most, simply take the district's entire budget and divide it by the number of students in its schools. It's one measure that's easy to get - but it's not as informative as it sounds and not as relevant to taxpayers as you would think.

When you use the entire budget and not just the tax levy, it will look like the 'cost' has gone up under scenarios including districts which receive significant aid, grant money, other funds that pass through the district with no impact, etc. - anything that isn't the tax levy. These budget items impact every school district differently.* North Shore has been holding the percent of its budget covered by the tax levy to about 82% - lower than it's been in decades. (See proposed budget narratives on district website.)

When you use the entire budget, you also include the expense for buses, textbooks, health care, and special education services for students who live in our district but attend private schools. However, you are only dividing that budget by the number of students in our schools - not all the students covered by the budget. Again, every district is impacted differently by these figures.

So, what's the tax levy per student? (It still doesn't account for private school students but....) The EmpireCenter.org does post that data. The most recent data shows nearby districts including Jericho, Locust Valley and Cold Spring Harbor having higher tax levies per student.

Separately, we can also ask what we get for our budget. To see a comparison with a district that spends less, click here.

*For example, our district is home to St. Christopher's. The cost in the budget for those students is around $400,000 but it is entirely covered by other sources. If you divide the entire budget by our students, you would think there's roughly $150 per student added by that line. But no. That number is on both sides of the budget - costs and revenue. However, it is not in the tax levy.