Multi-family housing developments have been blamed for burdening school districts on Long Island. A study that suggests that might be wrong.
The report from the Long Island Regional Planning Council found that Farmingdale, Huntington and Patchogue-Medford school districts saw declines in enrollment over the past 10 years despite new multi-family housing projects.
And, while Mineola, Longwood, and Uniondale school districts saw an increase in enrollment, the residential projects accounted for only 20% of that gain in the districts’ school-age children.
Todd Poole is the study’s author. He told Newsday that this analysis shows that the increase in enrollment was not driven by new students coming from these multi-family housing projects.
Poole said this study debunks a common myth among opponents to new residential projects that new housing overwhelms school districts with new students.
