Nassau residents and elected officials often complain that taxes are too high.

A comparison of income, property, and sales taxes by WalletHub, a personal finance company, shows that New Yorkers pay the most in the country.

And according to SmartAsset, an online financial information company, New York City suburbs pay the highest property taxes in the nation.

But are they too high?

Not, apparently, if you are talking about education. When it comes to spending—at least on education—residents and officials always want more.

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently agreed with state legislative leaders on a $327 billion budget that included an increase of $1.3 billion in school aid from her original budget.

The original budget had called for a far more modest $800 million increase in education spending, which included an overall increase for Nassau County school districts of 4.89% in state aid.

This was on top of a $7 billion increase in state spending over the past three years and an additional $13 billion in extraordinary federal aid.

But many Long Island school districts and local elected officials were not happy. They said the spending, mostly covered by the state income tax, was not enough.

They pointed out that 40 of the 117 Long Island School Districts would see a decrease in state aid, some as much as 10%.

This was due, in part, to the proposed elimination of the state’s “hold harmless policy,” which guaranteed that every district received the same amount of state aid or more from year to year – even if school enrollment dropped.

Eighty-one percent of districts outside New York City have fewer students today than they did in 2018-19,” according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank. “Since peaking in 1999-2000 at 2.9 million, New York’s enrollment (including charter schools) has fallen below 2.4 million to a level not seen since the early 1950s.”

In North Hempstead, school enrollment has essentially stayed the same between the 2012-313 and 2022-23 school years, but the numbers among districts have been uneven, with some districts reporting large drops and others large gains.

Among the districts seeing decreased school attendance were Carle Place at 8.9%, East Williston at 8.2%, Manhasset at 8.1%, and Sewanhaka at 6.1%.

Among the districts seeing increases were Herricks at 12.8%, Floral Park-Bellerose at 8.6%, and Mineola, at 6.1%.

In Nassau County – with its 56 school districts, 56 school superintendents and 56 school boards – enrollment was down 3.38% in the past 10 years.

But during this time, New York’s per-pupil spending was rising.

The Empire Center pointed out that New York had the highest per-pupil spending of any state as of 2021 at $26,571, almost double the national average of $14,347. Places like Texas and Florida were below $10,000 per pupil.

New York’s per-pupil spending was expected to exceed $30,000 in 2022-23. On the North Shore, many school districts spent between $35,000 and $47,000 per pupil in the 2023-2024 school year.

Still, local officials were angry when Hochul’s budget mixed increases with cuts.

“It is shameful for Gov. Hochul to propose a state budget with Draconian cuts to over 40 Long Island school districts while providing billions to pay for the ongoing migrant crisis,” Republican Long Island Congressmen Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) and Nick LaLota (NY-01) said in a joint press release.

State Sen. Jack Martin’s (NY-07) op-ed, which appeared in Blank Slate Media’s six newspapers and website, was headlined “They’re Cutting Bone.”

Considering that opera is taught and the New York Stock Exchange floor has been replicated in North Shore school districts, this seemed a tad harsh.

But state Assembly and Senate Democrats agreed with the opponents of any cuts of state aid anywhere. They called for a minimum 3% increase in state aid for all districts.

So much for controlling state spending and high taxes. At least when it comes to education.

The three Republican congressmen did call for the state to eliminate the $2.5 billion allocated for New York City housing more than 170,000 migrants.

But this was a non-starter, with city Democrats who dominate both the Assembly and the Senate unwilling to abandon otherwise homeless men, women, and children.

The result? A state budget  that includes a record $34.5 billion in school aid — a $3 billion increase over the current year.

This happened in a year when all state legislative and congressional seats are up for election. So, it is safe to assume that legislators of both parties believed this was supported by voters.

The same is true of local school budgets – usually the largest part of revenue for school districts.

County, town and village officials routinely tout their efforts to control spending, which can make a difference at the margins.

But the county, towns and villages only account for about one-third of the property taxes paid by residents.

The remaining two-thirds? The money that goes to schools.

School budgets are also the only budgets subject to voter approval every year.

Spending on schools and villages is constrained by a cap imposed on increases in tax levies that require a 60% vote to exceed.

Almost all budgets don’t exceed the tax cap. Almost all budgets are also approved by voters, many of whom have children who attend local schools.

As Willie Sutton, the famed robber, said when asked why he stole from banks, that’s where the money is.

Schools are much the same way when it comes to taxpayers. They are where the money is and the 56 school districts in Nassau would be a good place to look if you wanted to cut taxes.

This is not to say that voters should reject school budgets or state spending on education.

North Hempstead residents have demonstrated their support for school spending over many years by voting in favor of school budgets and calling for more state aid.

Many residents who live here decided to come to and stay in Nassau because of the high-quality education their children receive accompanied by a promise for a better future.

Residents, whether or not they have children in school, also benefit from the high property values associated with quality schools.

Voters may want to know if they are getting the most from their spending. Students in some other states have higher average test scores. Why that is would seem a fair question to ask.

But most residents appear to believe that spending on education, particularly in their community, is a good use of tax money.

So are taxes too high in Nassau County? We guess it depends on who the money is spent on.