By Conner Keough
In July 2024, representatives from multiple Nassau County school districts, including Hempstead, Uniondale and Westbury, lobbied during a public hearing against the adoption of the Diamond Charter School in Hempstead.
Educators and local lawmakers packed the Hempstead Middle School band room and spoke for 90 minutes in opposition to the charter.
“We’re producing remarkable outcomes for children of color,” said Monique Darrisaw-Akil, the Uniondale Schools superintendent, at the hearing. “We do not need Superman or anyone else to come and save us because our schools are quality.”
Despite a majority of local community members opposing the charter at the session, the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute in Albany approved the new school. The Diamond Charter is set to open in September 2026.
Charter schools are a form of public education, funded by taxpayers. There are four charter schools operating in or planned for the area: Evergreen Academy in Hempstead, Academy Charter in Hempstead and Uniondale, and the Diamond Charter.
Charter schools must hold lotteries if seats exceed applicants. Tests cannot be used for admission, only student placement in classes.
Enrollment declines and the charter effect
School districts of color, Hempstead and Uniondale in particular, have for 16 years seen students siphoned off by charter schools. In 2015, the Hempstead School District enrolled 7,401 students and was projected to gain nearly 3,000 students by 2025, according to State Education Department figures. Ten years later, the school district enrolls 5,378 students.
District officials say charter schools are primarily responsible for the drop in Hempstead public school enrollment. Hempstead schools are sending a record 3,737 students to charter schools in 2025-26. Nearly 40% of eligible students in the district attend charter schools, leaving Hempstead to face a major budget deficit, as the funds allocated to these students go to the charters and not district schools.
The Hempstead School District will spend a projected $106 million to cover expenses for students choosing to attend charter schools in 2025-26. That’s an increase of $16.5 million from the previous year. That has led to budget deficits and cuts to the Hempstead district.
“We’re facing significant excessing this year. We had an excess of 35 teachers and nine administrators and 21 teaching assistants over the last few years. That’s a huge amount.”
Nicole Brown, Hempstead Classroom Teachers Association
“We’re facing significant excessing this year. We had an excess of 35 teachers and nine administrators and 21 teaching assistants over the last few years. That’s a huge amount,” said Nicole Brown, a Hempstead fifth-grade teacher and president of the Hempstead Classroom Teachers Association, in an interview this past spring.
In 2025-26, Hempstead is set to receive $259 million in state aid, a $5 million increase over 2024-25. The rate of state aid increases is not, however, keeping pace with the total amount that the district must pay to the charter schools, district officials say.
“Charter schools have always been a problem for Hempstead since they opened the first one 16 years ago,” Brown said. “What is happening now is the compounding impact of charter schools in the area. There is a saturation of charter schools in and around the Village of Hempstead that has put a significant strain on the public schools.”
District officials have considered closing David Paterson Elementary School within the next few years to save money, but as of this September, it remained open.
The Uniondale School District faces a similar situation, though it is less severe than in Hempstead. Some 1,008 Uniondale students will attend charter schools in 2025-26, an increase from 919 students last year. Uniondale is paying $2.5 million more to charter schools this year, for a total of $27.5 million.
For now, Uniondale has been able to mitigate the losses with state aid. And parents say Uniondale is holding on.
“I’m hopeful that [state] aid will continue to be enough.”
Yasodra Ramrookum, Uniondale High School PTA President
“I’m hopeful that [state] aid will continue to be enough,” Uniondale High School PTA President Yasodra Ramrookum said in an interview in the spring.
Ramrookum attended high school and middle school in Uniondale and is involved in both PTAs. “The district has received federal and state grants, and I think that’s how the district has been able to continue as well as they have for now,” Ramrookum said.
Charter school officials, meanwhile, say they are helping to improve the local educational landscape. “I actually want to be integral and help and work with our school districts and work with our community partners,” Mark Crusante, founder and executive director of the Diamond Charter School, told Herald Community Newspapers in the summer of 2024. “My true goal is to really service the students of Hempstead and work with families and really get them from point A to point B.”
At a public hearing last October, Maria, a former Hempstead High School student who did not give her last name, spoke critically of her alma mater and said she believed the Evergreen Charter was a better choice for students. “I went to Hempstead High School, and it was not a good experience,” she said. “I think we are benefiting from Evergreen because we are getting a very good school and a very good education. Everything that they want to do, I’ll support them because it’s a very good school.”
A district in recovery
When charter schools came to Hempstead, the district was struggling. In 2014, Hempstead High School’s graduation rate was 37%, significantly lower than the New York State average of 80%. The district entered into state receivership, a program that allows state officials to take over school board operations.
CBS Reports released a documentary on the Hempstead Public School system in 2018 titled “37%” to document the state of the district then. The documentary showed infighting between school board members, physical altercations between students and classrooms with leaking ceilings. The district also dealt with an administration that falsified high school graduation rates to try and improve the high school’s image.
Hempstead is not that district anymore. In 2023-24, the graduation rate rose to 82%, four points behind the state average. District educators improved the graduation rate by shifting the focus on how they educated their students. More emphasis was placed on one-on-one and small group work for students, district officials say. Hempstead has also expanded its academic intervention services to provide educational services before and after school for struggling students.
In 2023, Hempstead was removed from state receivership after significant academic improvement.
Hofstra University education professor Alan Singer said, “The district has a large number of students from families that are struggling economically. For many, English is not their home language, which adds to difficulty they have in school and the need for extra support. The district is also economically stressed and cannot afford to lose funds to charter schools.”
Calls for greater charter accountability
Brown is a part of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), which has lobbied against charter schools. The union says charters should disclose their financial earnings to the public.
NYSUT is seeking to ensure charter schools are spending their entire budget on education, not on building more schools. A resolution that the union put forth to this effect has the support of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a Democrat.
With a cap set on charter schools in New York City, Brown said she believes more charter schools will open on Long Island, constructed with taxpayer dollars. In 2023, the State Education Department retained the maximum number of charter schools allowed in the state at 460, with the agreement no new charter schools would be built in the five boroughs. The initial cap was set at 50 charter schools in 1998.
“This is not just a Hempstead problem or a Wyandanch problem,” Brown said. “It’s a Long Island problem. We really need to bring more attention to the issue because of the way [charters] tiptoed into Hempstead. They’ll find their way into more affluent districts.”
