AkilNYC / Education

Fewer students, more staff, a bigger budget: NYC public schools, 2018–⁠19 to 2025–⁠26

Enrollment in New York City Public Schools fell 12% while staff grew 4% and the budget grew 35%, more than inflation. Math and reading scores on the federal NAEP test did not measurably change.

2018–19 to 2025–26 · Updated 2026-09-24

What changed, 2018–⁠19 to 2025–⁠26

Students enrolled: −12%
Department of Education staff: +4%
Department of Education budget: +35%
Math and reading scores: No change

Charter schools are not included: they are public schools too, but run independently of New York City Public Schools. The budget does not count payments to charter schools. “No change” means no statistically significant change.

The same figures in 99 seconds, with narration and on-screen text.

Enrollment fell 12%: 122,306 fewer students

Students in New York City Public Schools, 3-K through grade 12. Charter schools are not included.

October 31 enrollment each school year (November 12 in 2021–⁠22). The axis starts at zero.

Elementary grades lost one in five students

Change in enrollment by grade, 2018–⁠19 to 2025–⁠26. Every grade band shrank except 3-K and pre-K, which grew as the city expanded 3-K for All (launched in 2017) and moved its subsidized child care (EarlyLearn) and Head Start programs into the Department of Education in July 2019. Pre-K for All began in 2014, before this period.

Grades 9–12304,799 → 282,009−22,790 (−7%)
Grades 6–8208,359 → 172,624−35,735 (−17%)
Grades K–5420,412 → 335,285−85,127 (−20%)
3-K and pre-K73,380 → 94,726+21,346 (+29%)

Charter schools, not counted here, grew from 119,551 to 150,854 students.

Students with disabilities held steady

Students with disabilities: 213,216 → 213,817+601
Share of all students: 21.2% → 24.2%about 1 in 4 now

Students with a disability who have an individualized education program, the plan that sets their special-education services. 2018–⁠19 → 2025–⁠26.

Show the numbers: enrollment by school year

School year	NYC Public Schools, 3-K–12	Kindergarten–grade 12	3-K and pre-K	Charter schools (not included)
2018–19	1,006,950	933,570	73,380	119,551
2019–20	1,002,200	915,292	86,908	129,668
2020–21	955,490	880,145	75,345	138,648
2021–22	919,136	827,944	91,192	139,752
2022–23	906,977	809,118	97,859	140,918
2023–24	912,064	814,987	97,077	145,997
2024–25	906,248	811,711	94,537	148,089
2025–26	884,644	789,918	94,726	150,854

For 2018–⁠19 to 2020–⁠21, the NYC Public Schools total is the published citywide total minus charter schools.

Staff grew 4%: 5,922 more people

Department of Education personnel on June 30, as reported in the Mayor’s Management Report.

Staff fell to 141,594 in June 2023, then rose. The June 2026 figure is preliminary. The axis starts at zero.

Who is counted as staff

Included

Full-time employees, plus part-time and hourly staff counted as full-time equivalents
Teachers, paraprofessionals, principals and assistant principals
Counselors, social workers, psychologists, nurses and therapists
Family workers, school secretaries and central office staff

Not included

Charter school staff
School safety agents, who are NYPD employees
Staff of contracted providers, such as community-based pre-K programs and private special-education schools

Mayor’s Management Report definition: total employees from all funding sources on June 30, the last day of the city’s budget year.

More special-education teachers, fewer general-education teachers

Change by job, June 2019 to June 2025, the latest year the city payroll shows job titles.

Special education teachers23,507 → 27,169+3,662
Counselors, social workers and psychologists5,800 → 7,171+1,371
Family and community staff2,967 → 3,886+919
Therapists and nurses3,233 → 3,681+448
Paraprofessionals (classroom aides)25,203 → 24,789−414
General education teachers52,863 → 49,700−3,163
All other jobs18,482 → 16,937−1,545

Full-time salaried staff on the city payroll, active on June 30: 132,055 in 2019 and 133,333 in 2025.

Show the numbers: three staff counts show the same pattern

Each counts Department of Education employees on June 30; the payroll and full-time counts end in 2025.

June 30	Mayor’s Management Report	City full-time headcount	Payroll: full-time salaried
2019	146,776	133,616	132,055
2020	147,792	134,684	133,304
2021	144,323	132,383	130,961
2022	141,748	129,721	128,740
2023	141,594	129,440	128,634
2024	143,663	131,219	130,292
2025	147,565	134,242	133,333
2026	152,698	—	—

Teachers (Mayor’s Management Report): 78,761 in 2018–⁠19, 75,936 in 2022–⁠23, 77,585 in 2024–⁠25, 81,249 in 2025–⁠26.

The budget grew 35%. Inflation was 28%.

Department of Education adopted budget, not counting payments to charter schools, next to the 2018–⁠19 budget grown only with inflation.

Adopted each June for the coming school year; this is the plan, not actual spending. Inflation: New York metro area consumer prices, school-year averages. The axis starts at zero.

What is in this budget number

Included

Salaries of Department of Education staff
Current employees’ health insurance, Social Security and other benefits
Contracted services, including pre-K and special-education providers
Transportation, school buildings, food and supplies

Not included

Payments to charter schools (shown in the table below)
Pensions
Payments on money borrowed to build schools
Retiree health care

Totals of $42–45 billion reported elsewhere add pensions and debt payments, which the city budgets separately.

Where the extra $8.1 billion went

Change in the adopted budget by category, 2018–⁠19 to 2025–⁠26.

Special education$5.1B → $7.7B+$2.66B
General education instruction$7.6B → $9.2B+$1.66B
3-K, pre-K and early childhood$1.1B → $2.2B+$1.11B
Employee benefits$3.5B → $4.5B+$1.02B
Transportation$1.2B → $2.0B+$0.81B
Buildings, energy and leases$1.6B → $2.3B+$0.68B
All other$3.4B → $3.6B+$0.19B

Not counting charter school payments, which grew by $1.3 billion. Special education includes private and contract school placements and pre-K special education. Early childhood includes subsidized child care (EarlyLearn) and Head Start, which moved to the Department of Education in July 2019.

Show the numbers: budget by school year

School year	Adopted budget	Charter school payments	Without charter payments	Change since 2018–⁠19	Inflation since 2018–⁠19
2018–19	$25.6B	$2.1B	$23.5B	—	—
2019–20	$27.2B	$2.3B	$24.9B	+6%	+1.8%
2020–21	$27.6B	$2.4B	$25.2B	+7%	+3.9%
2021–22	$31.6B	$2.7B	$28.8B	+23%	+9.1%
2022–23	$31.0B	$3.0B	$28.1B	+19%	+14.9%
2023–24	$31.5B	$3.0B	$28.5B	+21%	+18.8%
2024–25	$32.7B	$3.2B	$29.5B	+26%	+23.5%
2025–26	$35.0B	$3.4B	$31.6B	+35%	+28.0%

Actual spending, including charter payments, ran about 6% above the adopted budget: $27.1B in 2018–⁠19 and $34.7B in 2024–⁠25.

$1.5 billion more than inflation

If the 2018–⁠19 budget had only kept up with inflation, it would be $30.1 billion in 2025–⁠26.

2018–19 budget$23.5B
2018–19 budget, grown with inflation$30.1B
Adopted 2025–26 budget$31.6B

Not counting payments to charter schools.

Spending per student

2025–26: $23,336 → $35,734+53%Since 2018–19; inflation +28%
2023–24, when the NAEP test was given: $23,336 → $31,228+34%Since 2018–19; inflation +19%

Akil calculation: the budget above divided by students enrolled. Some budget items serve students outside that count, such as private special-education placements.

Math and reading scores did not improve

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a federal math and reading test given to a sample of 4th and 8th graders across the country, including New York City. It is the same test everywhere, so results can be compared over time and with the rest of the country. Results for 2019 and 2024, with U.S. public schools for context.

TestNew York CityU.S. public schools

Grade 4 mathNew York CityNo significant change31.6% → 33.4% at or above ProficientAverage score 230.8 → 230.1U.S. public schoolsDeclined40.4% → 39.4% at or above ProficientAverage score 240.0 → 237.3

Grade 8 mathNew York CityNo significant change26.8% → 23.3% at or above ProficientAverage score 272.9 → 267.1U.S. public schoolsDeclined32.9% → 26.9% at or above ProficientAverage score 281.0 → 272.2

Grade 4 readingNew York CityNo significant change27.1% → 28.1% at or above ProficientAverage score 212.0 → 209.1U.S. public schoolsDeclined34.3% → 30.5% at or above ProficientAverage score 219.4 → 214.3

Grade 8 readingNew York CityNo significant change26.4% → 28.9% at or above ProficientAverage score 254.4 → 254.1U.S. public schoolsDeclined32.4% → 28.7% at or above ProficientAverage score 262.0 → 256.7

“No significant change” means the difference is within the test’s margin of error. NYC results do not include charter schools. The 2024 tests were given January 29 to March 8, 2024.

How NYC students scored in 2024

Share of students at each NAEP achievement level, New York City and U.S. public schools.

Grade 4 math

New York City33%33%25%

U.S. public schools24%36%31%

Grade 8 math

New York City49%28%15%

U.S. public schools41%32%19%

Grade 4 reading

New York City46%26%19%9%

U.S. public schools41%29%22%

Grade 8 reading

New York City38%33%24%

U.S. public schools34%37%25%

Basic: partial mastery of the grade’s knowledge and skills. Proficient: solid academic performance. Advanced: superior performance. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

In 2023–⁠24, when the NAEP test was given

Department of Education budget: +21%
Inflation: +19%
Students enrolled: −9%
Department of Education staff: −2%

Change since 2018–⁠19. Budget not counting charter school payments.

What else changed in these years

July 1, 2019: the city’s early childhood system, including EarlyLearn child care and Head Start (described as over $600 million), moved from the Administration for Children’s Services to the Department of Education. NYC Council Finance Division, Administration for Children’s Services Fiscal 2020 budget report (PDF) ↗
The Department of Education received about $7 billion in federal COVID recovery funding for K–12 schools, spread over several budget years. NYC Comptroller, federal COVID aid to the Department of Education, April 2022 (PDF) ↗
Spending on Carter cases, special-education tuition claims brought by families, rose from $499 million in 2018–19 to $1.19 billion in 2023–24. NYC Council Finance Division, Fiscal 2026 Preliminary Budget report: Department of Education (PDF) ↗
A 2022 state law caps class sizes in New York City Public Schools. In April 2025 the city announced hiring over 3,700 new teachers at nearly 750 schools toward meeting it. NYC Mayor’s Office, April 2025 announcement ↗
By July 2025, the city reported it had enrolled 50,000 children from newly arrived families in NYC public schools. This is a running total since 2022, not a change in enrollment. NYC Mayor’s Office, July 2025 announcement ↗

Notes

Charter schools are public schools too, but they are run independently; their students, staff and payments are not included in these figures.
The budget is the adopted budget each June, not actual spending.
Inflation for 2025–26 averages 11 months; the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish October 2025.
New York State changed its grades 3–8 tests in 2023, so state results are not comparable to 2019.
These figures are shown side by side; they do not show why any of them changed.

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