It was created from the merger of the Cornwall on Hudson and Cornwall school districts in the mid-1950s. The buildings used by both districts are still in use today. The others have been built since then. It is governed by a seven-member elected school board and is financed by property taxes levied within the district.
Schools
Cornwall has three elementary schools, all educating students from kindergarten through fourth grade. The former Cornwall on Hudson main school building, on NY 218 in the center of the village, is now Cornwall-on-Hudson Elementary School. Cornwall's school, located on Willow Avenue outside downtown Cornwall near the hamlet of Firthcliffe, is now Willow Avenue Elementary School after educating sixth and seventh graders for the later 20th century. A third school, known formally as Cornwall Elementary School, is referred to within the district as Lee Road Elementary School for the street it is located on. It was built in 1968 due west of what is now Cornwall Central Middle School, located along Main Street just south of Route 218 outside the village.
New high school
That building was built in 1957 as the high school to handle the district's merger. During that time, it held grades 8 through 12. By the end of the century, growing population due to increased development in the district and larger families led to overcrowding, and after much contention a new Cornwall Central High School was built in the western section of the district, along NY 94. It won some architectural awards when it opened in 2003. The roofline of the "gym, pool and auditorium mimics the shape of distant hills" and the corridors include a "train track" rhythm to mimic the nostalgia for railways in the region.[4] With its opening, the district reorganized the grades so that fifth graders and eighth graders attend the middle school.
Central and Union Free school districts are authorized to operate high schools, though not all do, while common school districts may not operate high schools.
