Hempstead school district considering staff cuts, elementary school closure
The exterior of the Hempstead school district's administration office. Credit: Barry Sloan
The Hempstead school district is considering staff cuts and closing an elementary school due to enrollment declines and rising charter school costs, district officials said Wednesday.
The district is still finalizing its 2025-26 budget but said “staff reductions will be necessary” due to an anticipated increase of $20 million in tuition payments to charter schools, according to a joint statement from interim Superintendent Susan Johnson and school board President Victor J. Pratt.
“Where and how many staffing cuts will be needed” will be determined after the district has finished collecting information such as final enrollment projections and the amount of state aid the district will receive, the statement said. Those decisions will be shared with the Hempstead community before the budget vote in May, their statement to Newsday said.
Nicole Brown, president of the Hempstead Classroom Teachers Association, said she and officials from other bargaining units met with Johnson Friday. She said they were told the district is considering closing an elementary school.
Brown, whose union includes nearly 500 social workers, guidance counselors and others, said Johnson did not share which school might be affected.
District officials on Wednesday said they are considering reducing the current five elementary schools to four, with the fifth building to be used for "alternative student-focused programs and services."
If the board decides to move forward with the restructuring plan, the statement from Johnson and Pratt read, "It would then, in consultation with District Administration, and after input from the community, determine which elementary schools would remain open and which elementary school would be used for other student-based purposes."
Drop in enrollment
Schools across the Island are facing declining enrollment, which has led districts to close or consider closing schools amid rising costs and other fiscal pressures.
The West Babylon school board on Tuesday voted to close Forest Avenue Elementary School by August.
Amityville is considering shuttering Northeast Elementary School. Superintendent Gina Talbert said in an emailed statement Wednesday that a decision is expected to be made by April.
The declining student population has been tied to reasons such as families having fewer children, an aging population and people leaving due to the region’s high cost of living.
But in Hempstead, officials have long linked it to losing students to charter schools.
Hempstead Village has two charter schools — Academy Charter School and Evergreen Charter School. Children also attend Roosevelt Children's Academy. In all, about 3,300 Hempstead students are attending charter schools this school year, according to budget data from the district.
Another school, Diamond Charter School, is expected to open in Hempstead in September 2026. It plans to enroll about 160 students in kindergarten and first grade initially and grow to serve 486 students in grades K-5 by its fifth year, according to the school’s application, which was approved last fall.
Charter school tuition up
Hempstead’s enrollment has continued to shrink over the years, from nearly 7,000 K-12 students in 2013-14, according to state data, to what district officials project to be around 5,000 in 2025-26.
The district’s budget for this fiscal year is $328 million. It is projected to pay nearly $90 million in tuition payments to charter schools this year and nearly $110 million for the next school year.
Educators have noted the progress Hempstead schools have made in recent years, including higher graduation rates and its middle and high schools being elevated to academic good standing.
Joseph A. McNeil Elementary School was the last school to be removed from the state’s low-performance list and reclassified in good academic standing.
“All of our schools are performing very well, according to the state,” Brown said. “And it's because of the hard work of our teachers and teaching assistants. So to lose a school building and lose staff is going to have a very negative impact on our district and our students.”
Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.
