April 17, 2026

AUTHORS
Patrick Schumacher
Brian Backstrom

Executive Summary

School districts in New York State rely heavily on local revenue they raise from the assessment of property taxes. Because property wealth varies widely across districts, some districts can raise significant local revenue with relatively modest tax rates, while other districts with lower property wealth may struggle to raise comparable revenue even with higher tax rates.

This report examines two fundamental questions around this issue. For the state’s 668 school districts outside of the Big 5 (New York’s five most populous city school districts: New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers):

• Do districts with similar wealth make similar efforts to raise local revenue?
• Do those local tax efforts, and the allocation of equalizing state aid, result in similar per-pupil spending?

Findings include:

• The Foundation Aid formula—the state’s primary method for financing school districts, which allocates more state funding to districts with greater need—has largely reduced disparities in per pupil revenue across 80 percent of districts. The wealthiest 20 percent of districts, however, still use their large property tax wealth bases to generate significantly higher levels of per-pupil revenue than less wealthy districts, even accounting for need-based state aid allocations.
• Several policy changes could augment the existing school financing system to address these disparities. Some reforms could involve incremental adjustments to the Foundation Aid Formula, such as shifting some of the state aid currently available to districts with exceptionally high capacity for generating local revenue to lower-wealth districts; modifying the amount of required minimum local revenue contribution districts must make before state aid is triggered; or scaling back current Save Harmless provisions that prevent even the wealthiest school districts from receiving less Foundation Aid in the current year than it did in the prior year no matter how much their tax bases have grown.

Over a longer time horizon, more structural reforms could be considered as well that draw on approaches used in other states. These include recapturing and redistributing excess local revenue or even restructuring the boundaries of school districts.

Read the full report.

March 9, 2026

AUTHORS
Patrick Schumacher
Brian Backstrom

Introduction

The State University of New York (SUNY) reaches approximately 1.7 million students across its mix of credit- and noncredit-bearing courses, continuing education, and a wide range of community programs. Altogether, the university encompasses 64 college and university campuses, including four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, and the state’s only college of optometry, making it one of the largest comprehensive systems of higher education in the United States. Across these campuses, SUNY’s mission is to “provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access.”

Beyond its educational mission, SUNY has a substantial economic impact that benefits communities across the state. This impact occurs along several dimensions. There is the direct impact of the university as an employer, such as by paying wages, purchasing goods and services, and generating revenue through tuition, research grants, and hospital operations. Then there is the indirect impact on the economy through SUNY’s supply chain: when campuses contract with vendors, purchase equipment, or hire construction firms, those businesses in turn support additional jobs and economic activity. Finally, there is the induced effect that occurs when people employed either directly by SUNY or indirectly through its supply chain spend their earnings in the broader economy on retail, housing, groceries, and other goods and services.

This report aims to capture these different ways in which SUNY impacts the economy, and it builds on three prior economic impact analyses published by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The most recent report, covering academic year 2020–21, found that SUNY generated $31 billion in economic impact. This updated report finds that economic impact has grown to $35.5 billion for the academic year 2023–24, driven largely by increases in revenue at SUNY’s academic medical centers and major university campuses. This figure includes for the first time the full annual impact of SUNY construction activity. SUNY’s operations alone, excluding construction activity, generate $33.8 billion in economic output, which corresponds to a $7.38 return on investment (ROI) for each dollar in state appropriations made to support SUNY operations. The full $35.5 billion economic impact represents 1.5 percent of New York State’s gross state product.

The report also examines the supply-side effect SUNY has on the state’s workforce through degrees conferred and the retention of graduates. Data-sharing agreements with the Department of Labor and SUNY’s Office of Institutional Research and Data Analytics show that more than 70 percent of SUNY graduates remain in New York State five years following graduation, and more than 62 percent are still working in the state after 10 years. The Rockefeller Institute also estimates that 25 percent of New Yorkers with a postsecondary degree hold one from a SUNY institution.

The first section of this report presents the economic impact SUNY has statewide and by industry, and the second section outlines its impact across each of the 10 economic regions in the state. Later sections look at the number of degrees awarded by SUNY, employment impacts, and the economic impact of SUNY’s construction activity.

Read the full report here.