In theU.S. state ofNew York, public education is overseen by theUniversity of the State of New York (USNY) (distinct from theState University of New York, known as SUNY), its policy-settingBoard of Regents, and its administrative arm, theNew York State Education Department; this includes all public primary, middle-level, and secondary education in the state. TheNew York City Department of Education, which manages the public school system inNew York City, is the largest school district in the United States, with more students than the combined population of eightU.S. states. Over 1 million students are taught in more than 1,200 separate public and private schools throughout the state.
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Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages, and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. New York is one of seven states that mandate the teaching ofHolocaust andgenocide studies at some point in elementary or secondary school curricula.
One of the major public policy issues in recent decades has been the attempt by poorer communities to get more state funding to compensate for what they cannot generate in property taxes. The reliance of most communities on local property taxes to support schools has created the paradoxical situation of residents in wealthier communities paying a lower tax rate than residents in communities of lower average income.[citation needed]
While state law has required integrated schools since 1900 (overturning an 1894 law that permitted communities to establish separate schools for children of African-American descent[1]), patterns ofresidential segregation in many areas has often led tode facto segregated schools. As studies have shown the importance of integrating children from different economic classes, more than ethnic groups, communities are devising different methods, such as magnet schools, to deal with attracting diverse groups of students.
As of 2024[update], there were 343charter schools serving 170,000 students in the state.
Carol O'Connor notes that between 1896 and 1935, the state legislature made eight amendments to the compulsory education law. The solons were responding to pressure from labor unions and advocates of child welfare. The goal was to keep children in school for a longer period of time, which would in turn keep them off the labor market. Labor permits for children under 16 steadily became harder to obtain.[2]
Between 2000 and 2009, school enrollment declined by 121,000 students, and the number of teachers increased by 15,000. The student:teacher ratio was the eighth lowest in the country, 13:1. At $16,000, its per student spending was the nation's highest.[3]
New York's statewide public university system is theState University of New York (SUNY). Its top-ranked schools areSUNY at Albany,Binghamton University,University at Buffalo, andStony Brook University.
With a total enrollment of 459,550 students and 1.1 million continuing education students spanning 64 campuses across the state, SUNY is the largest comprehensive public university system in the United States. New York's largest public university is the State University of New York at Buffalo, which was founded byMillard Fillmore.[4][5] The campuses are a mix of community colleges, technical colleges, undergraduate colleges, and doctoral-granting institutions, with the latter including the four university centers (University at Albany, Binghamton University, University at Buffalo, and Stony Brook University).
The SUNY system includes the following campuses, broken down into the categories of University Centers, other doctoral-granting institutions including fivestatutory institutions, Comprehensive Colleges, Technology Colleges, and Community Colleges.
University Centers
Other doctoral-granting institutions and statutory colleges
One statutory college atAlfred University:
Four statutory colleges atCornell University (which are legally and technically part of Cornell):
TheCity University of New York (CUNY) is the public university system of New York City and is independent of the SUNY system. It is the largest urban university in the United States, with 11 senior colleges, an honors college, 7 community colleges, a doctorate-granting graduate school, a journalism school, a law school, theCUNY School of Medicine, a professional studies school, and a public health school. More than 274,000 degree-credit, adult, continuing and professional education students are enrolled at campuses located in all five New York City boroughs.
CUNY consists of the following 24 colleges, including the senior colleges, community colleges, graduate and professional institutions.
New York has hundreds of private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. The state'sland-grant university isCornell University; though primarily a private institution, it has public sectors.Columbia University,Cornell University,New York University, and theUniversity of Rochester are widely regarded as the premier higher education institutions in New York, all of them leading, world-renowned universities and members of theAssociation of American Universities, the pre-eminent group of research universities in the United States.
Two of the nation's five Federal Service Academies are located in New York: theUnited States Military Academy atWest Point and theUnited States Merchant Marine Academy atKings Point.
New York attracts the most college students from other states, according to statistics that show that among freshmen who leave their home states to attend college, more come to New York than any other state, including California.[11]
In total, New York State has 307 degree-granting institutions, second in number only toCalifornia. Among the most notable and highest ranked institutions are:
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