By Conner Keough
In the summer of 2024, representatives from multiple Nassau County school districts, includingHempstead, Uniondale, 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 the overwhelming majority of local community members opposing the charter, the New York State Board of Education in Albany approved the charter school. The Diamond Charter is set to open in September 2026.
Enrollment declines and the charter effect
School districts of color, Hempstead and Uniondale in particular, had for 16 years now had 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 SED figures. Ten years later, the school district’s enrollment is 5,378 students.
Charter schools are primarily responsible for the drop in Hempstead public school enrollment, district officials said. Hempstead schools are sending a record 3,737 students to four different charter schools in the 2025-26 school year. 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. Meanwhile, New York State foundational aid is only projected to rise by $5 million in next year’s budget, contributing to a $33 million dollar shortfall, as reported by Herald Community Newspapers.
“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.
Uniondale faces similar pressures
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.
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.”
Chart illustrating how much money Hempstead public schools pays to charter schools in relation to other
districts entire budgets for the 2025-2026 school year
For now, Uniondale has been able to mitigate the losses with state aid. It is unknown at this time how much Uniondale will receive in foundation aid in 2025-26. Parents say, however, that 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 aid.
Ramrookum attended high school and midldle 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.
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 keeping up 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. “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.”
Charter schools are a form of public education, funded by taxpayers in districts like Hempstead and Uniondale. There are four charter schools in or planned for the area: Evergreen Academy in Hemsptead, Academy Charter in Hempstead and Uniondale and Diamond Charter coming to Hempstead in 2026.
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 a state official 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 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.
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.”
Charter schools use a test in their student selection process to see who meets standards coming in. Students who pass are eligible for enrollment.
“We have a significant loss in enrollment because the charter schools purposely seek out the highest-achieving students,” Brown said. “That leaves Hempstead schools with the struggling students and students that have Individualized Education [Plans].”
Hempstead has a disproportionate number of students with disabilities, totaling roughly 12% of the student body in 2023-24.
Hempstead and Uniondale do receive high levels of state aimed at mitigating the losses from the students leaving for charter schools, but school officials and resident say the state isn’t doing enough.
“If your enrollment goes down, you get less state aid,” Brown said. “What’s happening to the school this year is because our enrollment is continually going down. Although we have the same or more needs, we’re not getting the foundation aid we need to keep our heads afloat.”
District officials were considering closing David Patterson Elementary School within the next few years to save money, but as of this September, it remained open.
Calls for charter accountability
Brown is a part of NYSUT, New York State United Teachers, who lobbied against the Diamond Charter opening in Hempstead. The union says charter schools should disclose their financial earnings to the public.
“Let’s say it costs $20,000 for each child in Hempstead for the year. The charter schools are not paying the full amount to educate their students each year,” Brown said. “The charter school may only pay $10,000 a year for their students. Where is the other $10,000 a year going?”
NYSUT is seeking to hold charter schools accountable to ensure they are spending their entire budget on education, not on building more schools. Their resolution has the support of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The resolution is not a bill yet, but NYSUT is in the process of discussing it with legislators in Albany.
With a cap set on charter schools in New York City, Brown suspects more charter schools to pop up on Long Island, built with taxpayers dollars. In 2023, the New York State Education Department retained the maximum number of charter schools allowed in the state at 460, with the agreement no new charter schools are allowed to be built in the five boroughs. The initial cap was set at 50 charter schools in 1998.
Brown warned that the charter schools soon could become normal on Long Island. “This is not just a Hempstead problem, or a Wyndnach problem. It’s a Long Island problem,” she said. “We really need to bring more attention to the issue because of the way they tiptoed into Hempstead. They’ll find their way into more affluent districts.”
There are currently 351 active charters in New York State, 274 of which are located in New York City. Under current NYSED rules, 109 more charter schools could be built across the state.
