A 78.55% Approval for the 2025-26 Scarsdale School Budget

Board President Suzie Hahn and Superintendent Andrew PatrickThe 2025-26 school budget sailed through with a 78.55% approval rate on Tuesday May 20, 2025. With little controversy and no organized resistance, the $191.5mm budget passed with 586 yes votes, vs. 160 no votes. The vote count was similar to prior years when the budget increase did not exceed the tax cap, but in a community of more than 17,000 residents, with 4,700 students in the schools, voter representation for the most important contest of the year was somewhat anemic.

Also on the ballot were three school board members. Current Board President Suzie Hahn was re-elected to serve another three-year term with 634 votes. Colleen Brown, also up for a second term, was elected with 602 votes, and Laura Liu, who was nominated for her first term received 615 votes.

During budget discussions the Board confronted many challenges. First, increased costs have required them to drain reserves over the past few years as they are unable to increase taxes to balance the budget due to the NYS tax cap. The decrease in reserves may make next year’s budget even more difficult to balance. In addition, a rising number of students in the Special Education Program has resulted in the need to hire more staff and fund services. Costs for the district’s self-insured health plan have exceeded budget estimates and it is difficult to predict expenses year over year.

Board Members Jim Dugan, Leah Dembitzer, Laura Liu (Elected to serve July 2026) Suzie Hahn, Colleen Brown, Amber Yusuf
The Board also received feedback from some parents who said their children were struggling with a new Board Members Leah Dembitzer, Amber Yusuf and Colleen Brown with newly elected Board Member Laura Liuelementary school math curriculum called Reveal Math. And some parents and students at the high school objected to a change in the grading policy called the “Rolling Gradebook.”

However despite the challenges, the Board and Administration managed to come to consensus on a budget that increases the tax rate for Scarsdale residents by 1.77% and stays under the tax cap. It maintains elementary school classes sizes, allows for the construction of playgrounds and a turf practice field at the high school and funds the acquisition of three electric buses and the installation of the necessary infrastructure to power them.

Commenting on the outcome, Superintendent Patrick said, "This year’s budget process was a challenging one. We are grateful to our community for their input during the process, and strong community support of our students through the adoption of this budget. This budget will allow our schools to continue to reach the high standards we expect for our students while staying within the tax cap. We look forward to continuing to provide an exceptional educational experience for our students in keeping with our strategic plan priorities, Learning, Living, Leading.”

Suzie Hahn, President of the Scarsdale Board of Education said, “On behalf of the Board, thank you to the community for your support of our schools and our students. I would also like to thank District Clerk Honore Adams, Chair Meg Simon, all of the poll workers who volunteered their time, and the Scarsdale Middle School staff for ensuring everything ran smoothly. Congratulations to Colleen on her re-election and Laura on her election to the School Board. I look forward to serving with them and the rest of the Board in the coming year.”

Scarsdale High School also held an election today for two Ex Officio student seats on the Board of Education. In accordance with a recently enacted law, the Scarsdale Board of Education developed a policy and process to guide the selection of student members. Four candidates for each of two positions were on today’s ballot. Anish Mehta will represent the Class of 2026, and Lucy Eisenberg, will represent the Class of 2027.

On Tuesday night, a small group of school administrators, members of the Board of Education and District Clerk Honoree Adams gathered in the gym of the middle school after the vote closed at 9 pm and cheered when they learned of the almost 80% approval rate from Meg Simon who served as Chair of the Vote.

Meghan Troy, Andrew Lennon, Eric Rauschenbach and Drew Patrick

A happy night for the Scarsdale Schools.