New Paltz Senior High School, New Paltz NY

Original Research by School Decision on New Paltz Senior High School

New Paltz Senior High School serves grades nine through twelve in a small village campus setting on South Putt Corners Road, part of the New Paltz Central School District. The school enrolls a small cohort of students, roughly evenly distributed across the four grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a modest Hispanic population comprising the next-largest group, and smaller numbers of Asian and multiracial students. About a quarter of the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch.

The high school sits at a moment of significant change. In January 2025 voters approved a major capital improvement project, with groundbreaking anticipated in summer 2026. The work spans all four district schools and includes LED lighting upgrades, window and door replacements, and roof and mechanical system improvements at the high school. This modernization directly shapes the physical experience a student entering now will encounter, though it also brings ongoing tax impact to families in the district.

The district faces structural headwinds. Enrollment has declined steadily over decades, forcing multiple rounds of staffing reductions over the past several years. Though the 2026-27 budget marked the first year without layoffs, prior years saw cuts to positions including nurses, social workers, librarians, and pre-K staff, which affects the depth of support services available to secondary students. The district currently relies on a relatively high share of local tax revenue because state aid is modest, and the school board is actively studying whether to consolidate from four buildings to three in response to enrollment decline. A parent considering this school should understand that such a consolidation could alter how the district is structured in coming years.

Budget pressures have also meant sustained increases in the school tax levy. The 2025-26 budget carried a notable tax increase on top of the capital project's separate levy impact, and local officials acknowledge this creates ongoing strain. State assessment data and graduation rates for the high school were not available in the public data reviewed, so a parent may want to request those metrics directly from the school or district to understand academic outcomes and completion rates.

New Paltz itself is a college-oriented Hudson Valley village centered on a walkable downtown with independent shops, galleries, and restaurants, much of its character shaped by SUNY New Paltz. The village has a highly walkable core, though the school sits on a separate campus away from downtown. Housing values in the area have risen moderately and are above the national benchmark, while rents have climbed as well. The village is in active growth mode driven by housing demand tied to the university, with several development projects in various stages of approval, though this growth also intersects with ongoing local debate about affordability and the character of new development.

For families choosing this school, the experience combines a small, manageable cohort with a district undergoing both modernization and structural consolidation. The school sits in a college-town setting with walkable downtown amenities and strong institutional anchors in SUNY and the public library, though day-to-day school operations are spatially separated from that core. Budget realities and enrollment decline shape the scope of support services and likely will continue to do so.

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Academic performance

How students graduate and prepare for what comes next.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=95%Cohort of 200 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,253 schools plotted. 14 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Advanced Placement & IB

21 subjects offered · 2023-24

Each card is one AP or IB subject. The headline number is the share of students scoring 3 or higher on the exam — the threshold for college credit at most universities. The bar below each rate shows the underlying distribution across performance levels.

Score:12· no credit345· extremely well qualified

Math and Computer Science

Calculus AB

36 tested

72.2%

scored 3 or higher

Calculus BC

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Computer Science A

12 tested · Grade 10

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Statistics

18 tested

66.7%

scored 3 or higher

Sciences

Biology

7 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Chemistry

15 tested

86.7%

scored 3 or higher

Environmental Science

71 tested · Grade 10

70.4%

scored 3 or higher

Physics 1

27 tested

37.0%

scored 3 or higher

Physics C: Mechanics

1 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

History and Social Sciences

Comparative Government and Politics

27 tested

77.8%

scored 3 or higher

European History

49 tested · Grade 10

75.5%

scored 3 or higher

Macroeconomics

20 tested

70.0%

scored 3 or higher

Microeconomics

8 tested

50.0%

scored 3 or higher

Psychology

48 tested · Grade 10

68.8%

scored 3 or higher

U.S. History

31 tested

80.6%

scored 3 or higher

World Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language and Culture

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

Arts

Studio Art Drawing

6 tested

100.0%

scored 3 or higher

Other

Language and Comp

39 tested

76.9%

scored 3 or higher

Literature and Comp

38 tested

81.6%

scored 3 or higher

Studio Art 2d Design

2 tested

0.0%

scored 3 or higher

U S Government and Politics

24 tested

75.0%

scored 3 or higher

New York Regents Exams

4 courses reported · 2024-25

End-of-course exams required for a New York Regents diploma. Each row shows the cohort size and the share of students scoring at the proficient level or higher.

Course	Students tested	% proficient
Ela	171	90.0%
Social Studies	156	95.0%
Math	121	67.0%
Science	85	81.0%

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.