School Administration Proposes Budget In Compliance with State Tax Cap

The Scarsdale’s Board of Education hosted their second Budget Study session on Monday March 3rd and presented a proposed 2025-26 budget to comply with the state mandated tax cap. The Board sought to balance draining reserves against funding district priorities such as athletic programs, class sizes, course choice, teacher aids and a new special education program.

At the first Study Session held on February 3rd, administrators put forth an initial draft budget proposal that exceeded the state-mandated tax cap by approximately $2,000,000. Though administrators believed that this draft of the budget would best support students and teachers, some members of the Board (and of the Scarsdale community at large), expressed concern about trying to pass a budget over the tax cap for the second year in a row.

Dr. Drew Patrick announced at Monday’s meeting that several adjustments had been made to the most recent draft proposal including increased revenue assumptions and reduced expenditures, which together worked to close the $2,061,479 gap to make sure the budget stays within the tax cap.

In his presentation, Dr. Patrick gave a thorough explanation of the adjustments starting with a slide that outlined the increased revenue assumptions:

In describing the adjustments to the tax cap calculation, Andrew Lennon noted the EV bus infrastructure plan and said, “In the research we've been doing since our last budget study session, we do believe that those (EV) expenditures that we've included in the budget are considered to be capital expenditures in regards to the tax cap.”

At the first Budget Study Session, the public also learned that in an effort to save money, several “newer” varsity sports could be cut and no longer offered to high school students. Many student athletes spoke during Public Comment imploring the District to keep teams such as Crew, Fencing, and Squash. At the second session, Dr. Patrick discussed the possibility of asking for parent contribution (charging a fee) for these sports which would enable those activities to run pretty much as they're currently structured. He added, “With that said, we are also continuing to look at how to reduce our expenditures. How might we be more efficient in our transportation? Do we need the same number of adults that we provide to be part of that? If there are any savings that we think we can achieve between now and the start of the school year in those areas, it would come off of this amount.”

Lastly, Patrick explained the proposal to add an additional $90,000 of assigned fund balance to the $1.1 million in the budget, saying that money would be used, “to fund the architect, engineering, construction management pre referendum costs and would ultimately be bonded if we pass a referendum, and then returned to fund balance.” Another $1,281,233 will be transferred from the health care reserve in order to balance the budget for a total of $2,381,233 in reserves.

In terms of reduced expenditures, administrators have identified a number of additional reductions which were outlined on this slide of the presentation.

Patrick briefly described each area of the proposed reduced expenditures. In regards to salary and wages, Patrick said, “We are proposing reducing teacher aid hours in the amount of about $226,000. How that would actually look, is work to be done but that amount is roughly a 10% reduction in eight hours across our general education aid budget.”

Patrick went on to describe the reduction of two additional FTE teaching positions. He explained that based on enrollment projections the District is predicting a shrink or collapse of one of the ICT sections. Patrick also announced that instructional technology specialist Meredith Dutra is leaving Scarsdale High School and has accepted a position to be a Director of Technology in North Salem. Patrick offered her his congratulations and noted that the District would reduce that position.

For a detailed explanation of all the proposed adjustments you can watch the full presentation here.

Before addressing questions about these proposed changes, administrators delivered presentations that explored important components of a Scarsdale education that the budget supports. These components include: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Special Education and Student Services, Safety, Security, and Emergency Management, and Technology and Innovation.

The presentations made clear that students are at the center of everything the District does and that the budget supports student development through responsive change, multiple perspectives, and authentic learning experiences.

Assistant Superintendent for Special Education and Student Services Eric Rauschenbach described how the Special Education programs saw a rise in enrollment to 627 students, a 14% increase since 2010. He discussed plans to expand in-district programs to SMS and SHS to reduce out-of-district placements, which he estimates will yield $1.2 million in savings over five years. In order to make the program cost efficient, he estimates that the district will receive $257,000 in tuition revenue from other school districts who will place their students in two new programs, The proposal requires the district to hire two additional full time special education teachers.

The technology budget calls for a 2.1% increase, focusing on instructional software and cybersecurity. To view the presentations in their entirety, see here.

Following the presentations the Board was given the opportunity to ask questions. All board members participated in the thoughtful Q and A session where they asked clarifying questions to deepen their understanding of the proposed changes and also provided their constructive feedback.

Leah Dembitzer shared her thoughts about athletics saying, “I think it's important to do our best to keep these sports. I think we've heard from a lot of parents and students, and we know what these sports mean to the students…they very articulately and passionately shared those with us. These sports represent belonging, wellness, physical, mental health, wellness. And so I just want to say I understand what we're in and I appreciate the troubleshooting and thinking about how to keep these sports.”

Dembitzer also acknowledged that Dr. McIntosh will deliver a Reveal Math presentation later in March, but she hoped to better understand if metrics are used to measure student progress and to help us understand if/how the curriculum is working.

McIntosh responded by inviting everyone to watch the Reveal Math presentation on March 24th where they will discuss the variety of metrics used to assess progress including star assessments, problem solving skills, performance assessments, and benchmark assessments. McIntosh added, “Since there's been a shift in the Next Gen standards towards an emphasis on these mathematical practices, we're looking to lean into those assessments that best describe how kids are developing in those areas. And so on the 24th we'll have an opportunity to hear from students, see students and teachers in action, and to talk about what these evolutions, the pedagogy and the content have meant…and how they're performing in the classroom.”

BOE member Ron Schulhof expressed his concern about using the fund balance to help balance the budget. He stated, “I think it's important to acknowledge when we say this budget proposal has closed “the gap” it is with the use of over $2 million from the fund balance. This will be the sixth year in a row that this district will balance the budget with the fund balance, which means we are spending more than we are taking in for six years in a row. What is the plan to address that?”

Dr. Patrick responded by saying, “I think we're trying to get those building blocks in place with a long range financial plan, with a fund balance and reserve use plan.” Patrick also highlighted two major forces, the experience of health claims and the retirement system rates which are outside of the District’s control. He added, “Yes, we're proposing to use reserves in both of those areas. Our goal would be to hopefully reach a point through some of these constraints and reductions in expenditures, we slow down the growth of expenditures to hope for a year where we're actually spending less than we're taking in, and that we restore those reserves, as we've done in the past.”

Claudine Gecel also expressed her concern about using the reserve funds to balance the budget. Gecel said, “I think that it's really great that everybody's working so hard on trying to pull this together and try to get it close to the tax cap. It is distressing that the reserve reduction is an important component of the process right now as it stands….It’s true that nobody can really control the pension part of the budget, because that's provided by New York State. But Health Care is within the control of the district, and maybe next time, we'll find out more about it. … The self insured (health) plan was put in quite some time ago, before the financial collapse, and, you know, it might be time to revisit that.

Also during Public Comment, many athletes took the podium to eloquently advocate for the District to continue to offer crew, squash, and fencing as varsity sports. To hear these students speak and to watch the Budget Study Session in its entirety see here.

Another budget study session will be held on Monday March 10, 2025 at 6:30 pm.