Five Towns school districts face rising costs, funding pressures
Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence officials point to state aid formulas, transportation costs and unfunded mandates as budgets tighten.
Public school districts in the Five Towns are facing rising costs even as they keep their finances in order, according to the Nassau Herald. Hewlett-Woodmere scored zero for fiscal stress and 20 points for environmental stress on the state comptroller's 2025 grading, and neither score triggered a state stress designation. Superintendent Dina Anzalone said the pressures are growing, citing a 27 percent rise in foundation aid from 2015 through the 2024-25 school year against a 49 percent rise in per-pupil spending over the same period.
Anzalone said the state's per-pupil formula does not count students placed outside the district's schools or enrolled in charter schools, which she said inflates the per-pupil figure of just over $57,000. She also said the state's 2 percent property tax levy limit, or the rate of inflation, has not kept up with health insurance, staffing and transportation costs. Transportation alone rose from $11 million last year to a projected near $14 million this year, mostly for non-public and out-of-district students. Anzalone called unfunded state mandates a further strain.
Lawrence, which scored zero for fiscal stress but 55 points overall, was designated as having moderate financial stress. Assistant superintendent Jeremy Feder said 82 percent of its students are economically disadvantaged. The district's 2026-27 budget passed last May with 74.3 percent of the vote, though Feder said approval rates depend on turnout. The article was cut off before its final section, so any further details from Lawrence are not included here.