KINSTON- Kingston City School District, the largest school district in Ulster County, is the only district in the Mid-Hudson Region flagged by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli as being “susceptible to fiscal stress,” according to a newly released report.
Statewide, 31 school districts were designated in some level of fiscal stress for the school year ending June 30, 2025, up from 22 districts the previous year. Of the 669 districts that submitted financial reports in time to be evaluated, 4.6 percent received a stress designation, compared to 3.3 percent in the prior year. Kingston was the sole Mid-Hudson district included on the list, placing it among 25 districts statewide labeled as susceptible to fiscal stress, the lowest of four stress categories.
DiNapoli attributed the increase in fiscal stress designations to the winding down of federal pandemic relief funding. From the 2019 to 2020 through the 2024 and 2025 school years, districts statewide spent $4 billion of the nearly $4.6 billion in available federal aid. Spending of that aid dropped sharply this past school year, with districts reporting just $317 million in pandemic relief expenditures, a decline of more than 70 percent from the previous year.
“In recent years, pandemic-related federal funding as well as increases in state aid have provided districts with significant financial support,” DiNapoli said. “With much of the relief funding having been spent, the number of school districts in fiscal stress has returned to pre-pandemic levels this year.”
The Fiscal Stress Monitoring System evaluates districts based on factors including year-end fund balance, operating deficits, cash position, and reliance on short-term borrowing. Higher scores indicate more severe financial challenges. While two districts statewide, Harrisville Central School District in Lewis County and Mount Vernon School District in Westchester County, were placed in the highest category of “significant fiscal stress,” Kingston did not fall into the moderate or severe levels.
Regionally, the Mohawk Valley had the highest percentage of districts with a stress designation, followed by Central New York and the North Country. DiNapoli encouraged school officials, including those in Kingston, to use state-provided self-assessment and financial management tools to help ensure budgets remain structurally balanced as districts adjust to the loss of pandemic-era funding.
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