The first 2026 STAR checks have landed. If you held yours up against the table in our STAR post, you saw a gap. Our own check had one too. Last year East Williston paid $914 for Basic STAR. This year the check is $751.45. That is 18% less.
Here is why, and what each district gets this year.
How a STAR check is figured
STAR is a coupon for school tax. The coupon says the first $30,000 of your home's value is tax free. Your check is the school tax you would have paid on that $30,000.
Here is the catch. Nassau does not tax your home on what it is worth. It taxes a much smaller number called assessed value. A house worth $800,000 has an assessed value near $800. Every tax rate in Nassau is set against that small number.
So the state has to shrink the $30,000 coupon to match. It asks two things. How much of today's prices does the county's roll show? And how much higher are Nassau prices than the rest of the state? Last year those two steps turned $30,000 into about $50 of assessed value. This year they turned it into $40.
The last step is the school tax rate. East Williston charges about $18.79 of school tax for every $1 of assessed value this year. $40 times $18.79 is $751.45. That is the check. Last year it was about $50 times $18.39, or $914.
Every one-, two- and three-family home in Nassau gets the same $40. Lawrence, Jericho, Levittown: all $40. The only thing that changes from district to district is the school tax rate.
Why $50 became $40
Nassau has not changed its assessment roll since 2020. Home prices kept going up. So each year the roll shows a smaller share of what homes are worth, and the state's first step shrinks the coupon a bit more. The law stops the drop at 11% a year, and the state rounds Nassau's number to the nearest $10. About $50 times 89% is $44, and $44 rounds down to $40.
School rates across Nassau rose about 4% on average this year. A 4% rise in the rate could not make up for a 20% drop in the coupon. So Basic checks fall between 13% and 26% from last year, and most fall about 16%. Enhanced checks fall up to 21%, and most fall about 11%.
You may have heard that STAR can rise at most 2% a year. That rule only caps raises. It does not stop a drop.
It is not your house
Your assessment, your income and any grievance you filed play no part. The $40 is the same for everyone in the county.
What each district gets this year
These are this year's checks for one-, two- and three-family homes. Last year's are in our earlier post.
| School district | Basic | Enhanced |
|---|---|---|
| Amityville | $988 | $2,965 |
| Baldwin | $953 | $2,858 |
| Bellmore | $916 | $2,748 |
| Bethpage | $760 | $2,280 |
| Carle Place | $752 | $2,256 |
| Cold Spring Harbor | $679 | $2,037 |
| East Meadow | $593 | $1,779 |
| East Rockaway | $896 | $2,688 |
| East Williston | $751 | $2,254 |
| Elmont | $716 | $2,149 |
| Farmingdale | $856 | $2,567 |
| Floral Park-Bellerose | $649 | $1,948 |
| Franklin Square | $418 | $1,254 |
| Freeport | $736 | $2,208 |
| Garden City | $593 | $1,780 |
| Great Neck | $577 | $1,732 |
| Hempstead | $922 | $2,767 |
| Herricks | $678 | $2,033 |
| Hewlett-Woodmere | $979 | $2,938 |
| Hicksville | $588 | $1,765 |
| Island Park | $701 | $1,988 |
| Island Trees | $575 | $1,724 |
| Jericho | $805 | $2,416 |
| Lawrence | $357 | $1,071 |
| Levittown | $966 | $2,898 |
| Locust Valley | $662 | $1,986 |
| Long Beach | $499 | $1,496 |
| Lynbrook | $917 | $2,752 |
| Malverne | $862 | $2,585 |
| Manhasset | $454 | $1,361 |
| Massapequa | $846 | $2,537 |
| Merrick | $945 | $2,836 |
| Mineola | $617 | $1,850 |
| New Hyde Park-Garden City | $644 | $1,931 |
| North Bellmore | $853 | $2,558 |
| North Merrick | $843 | $2,528 |
| North Shore | $712 | $2,136 |
| Oceanside | $786 | $2,357 |
| Oyster Bay-East Norwich | $567 | $1,702 |
| Plainedge | $933 | $2,800 |
| Plainview-Old Bethpage | $866 | $2,599 |
| Port Washington | $676 | $2,029 |
| Rockville Centre | $941 | $2,823 |
| Roosevelt | $652 | $1,956 |
| Roslyn | $735 | $2,206 |
| Seaford | $903 | $2,710 |
| Syosset | $945 | $2,835 |
| Uniondale | $636 | $1,908 |
| Valley Stream 13 | $671 | $2,014 |
| Valley Stream 24 | $722 | $2,167 |
| Valley Stream 30 | $697 | $2,092 |
| Wantagh | $886 | $2,659 |
| West Hempstead | $756 | $2,267 |
| Westbury | $955 | $2,866 |
Glen Cove bills its own school tax, and the city has not posted this year's rate yet. We will add it when it does.
The state posts its own Nassau figures in November. Our numbers are the state's $40 and $120 times each district's school tax rate on this fall's bills. Your check may differ by a few dollars.
To see your own check, use the state's property tax credit lookup.
The $40 and $120 are on the state's Nassau STAR exemption page and the formula on its STAR calculation page. Registering for STAR is free, and you can do it yourself.