About School Budget Clarity

An independent, nonpartisan guide to school district finances across Nassau County, New York.

Why this exists

Nassau County families spend more on school taxes than almost anywhere in the country. School taxes make up over 60% of property tax bills, and the county's 56 districts collectively spend billions of dollars each year. But this information has never been easy to access, understand, or compare in one place.

School Budget Clarity was built to change that. We take the financial data that districts are required to report publicly, present it in a clear and consistent format, and make it possible to compare any district in the county with any other — so you can understand how your community's schools spend money and how that compares to your neighbors.

About Nassau County's district structure

Nassau County has 56 separate public school districts recognized by the New York State Education Department. They come in a few different forms, which can be confusing the first time you encounter them.

Most Nassau districts are K-12 districts — either Union Free School Districts (UFSDs), Central School Districts (CSDs), or City School Districts. These cover all grade levels within their boundaries. Glen Cove and Long Beach are the two City School Districts in the county.

Three districts are Central High School Districts — Bellmore-Merrick, Sewanhaka, and Valley Stream. These serve only grades 7-12. The K-6 students in those towns attend separate elementary districts that share their boundaries. For example, a student living in Bellmore attends Bellmore UFSD for elementary school (grades K-6), then Bellmore-Merrick CHSD for middle and high school (grades 7-12).

This means a Bellmore family pays into two school districts: Bellmore UFSD and Bellmore-Merrick CHSD. The same is true for families in Merrick, North Bellmore, and North Merrick. Sewanhaka CHSD covers four component elementary districts (Elmont, Franklin Square, Floral Park-Bellerose, and New Hyde Park-Garden City Park), and Valley Stream CHSD covers three (Valley Stream 13, Valley Stream 24, and Valley Stream 30).

Island Park UFSD is another special case: it serves only grades K-6 and sends its high school students to Long Beach City SD through a tuition arrangement.

Each of these districts — whether K-12, elementary-only, or high-school-only — is a separate legal entity with its own budget, its own tax levy, its own state aid allocation, and its own state education department reporting. That's why all 56 districts are listed independently on this site.

How we got this data and what we did to it

The figures on this site come from two primary sources. District financial reports are obtained through FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) requests and publicly available budget documents. Enrollment and per-pupil expenditure figures are sourced directly from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to ensure consistency with official reporting.

We standardize spending categories across districts so that comparisons are meaningful. Different districts may label the same type of spending differently — we map these to a common set of plain-language categories (Classroom Teaching, Benefits & Retirement, Special Education, Transportation, and so on). The underlying state filing codes are preserved in our dataset for traceability.

Per-pupil spending comes from NYSED rather than being computed locally. Some districts have significant private school populations within their boundaries that NYSED accounts for, and using their official figure ensures the numbers reconcile with how the state itself measures district spending.

What this tool does not do

School Budget Clarity presents financial data. It does not evaluate whether a district's spending is good or bad, efficient or wasteful. Spending differences between districts reflect many factors — student demographics, special education needs, facility costs, local cost of living, and policy choices. Higher spending does not necessarily mean better outcomes, and lower spending does not necessarily mean greater efficiency.

We present the data as reported. We do not adjust for inflation, cost of living, or other economic factors unless specifically noted. We do not make recommendations about how districts should allocate their budgets.

Known limitations

Not all districts file their reports on the same schedule. Some data may be more current than others. When a district's data is older than the most recent fiscal year, that's reflected in the dashboard.

The interactive dashboard is built in Power BI and embedded on this site. Some interactive features — particularly slicers and small chart elements — may be less usable on mobile devices than on desktop. We recommend using the site on a desktop or laptop for the best experience.

Who built this

School Budget Clarity is an independent project. It is not affiliated with any school district, the New York State Education Department, any teachers' union, or any political organization.

Data analysis and visualization by Amil Virani. Website design and development by Aegis Strategies.

Contact and corrections

Found a data error? Have a question about the methodology? We want to hear from you. Accuracy matters, and we correct mistakes publicly.

Reach out at budgetclarity3@gmail.com.