Residents Urge Scarsdale BOE to Do What's Best for the Schools

Over 200 concerned residents have signed a Declaration of Fiscal Independence urging the Scarsdale Board of Education to put forth the best school budget for Scarsdale, despite pressure from the state-imposed tax cap and the shadow cast by the defeat of the first proposed school budget for 2013-14 in May, 2013. The Declaration, which was drafted by the Coalition for Scarsdale Schools, was read aloud at the Scarsdale School Board meeting on Monday November 18 by Jeff Spiegel.

The Declaration asks the Board to preserve local control of the schools, to maintain educational excellence, to put forth a budget that exceeds the tax cap if necessary and to lobby for reform in Albany.

The documents is signed by many current and former community leaders including 8 former members of the Board of Education, (one of which was also a Village Trustee;) 2 other former Village Trustees; and many current and former PT Council and PTA leaders. A wide cross-section of neighbors, friends, community activists, realtors, nursery-school parents and older residents are on the list as well.

The document remains open for local taxpayers to add their support. To add your signature, click here:

November 18, 2013
SCARSDALE DECLARATION OF FISCAL INDEPENDENCE

We, the undersigned, appreciate the opportunity to share the following thoughts for your consideration as Scarsdale enters the 2014-15 School Budget process. While we may have a range of views with respect to particular budget issues, we agree that:

1. Budget Based on Local Scarsdale Needs, Not Albany-Imposed Cap
Scarsdale should not cede control of funding of its nationally and internationally renowned public school system to Albany. Instead, Scarsdale should continue to develop, through its traditional process of community involvement, school budgets based on the needs of our local stakeholders – not based on an Albany-defined local revenue target that ignores the very costs that Albany continues to mandate yet refuses to fund.

2. Educational Excellence to Remain Priority
It is the enduring high quality of Scarsdale schools that is a distinguishing feature of living in this community. We respectfully submit that the School Board should therefore continue to develop a Scarsdale School District Budget that invests with foresight. We believe that it is essential to preserve value in Scarsdale schools, while at the same time exercising fiscal prudence to contain cost growth in areas under local control.

3. A Responsible Budget Might Exceed Arbitrary Albany Target; Please Let the Community Vote
The community's protective legal option to override the State calculated tax cap should be exercised when warranted in order to maintain current educational practices that define the quality of Scarsdale's schools, as well as to maintain responsible reserves intended to protect curriculum quality for schoolchildren in years to come. There is no substantive state mandate relief in sight, and Administration projections suggest that even a simple "rollover" budget for 2014-15 -- i.e., a budget with no new initiatives or staffing -- could well require a tax levy $1-1.5 million over the presumptive Albany tax cap. While tax levy growth associated with a rollover budget may end up very low relative to prior years, it still could be over a tax cap calculation that begins even lower than 2% for the coming budget. We respectfully urge that the Administration and the Board remain true to the principle of local control and propose a budget to the community that maintains Scarsdale educational excellence irrespective of a presumptive tax cap.

We believe the May defeat of the first proposed 2013-14 Budget should not be interpreted as a directive by the community to cut spending at any cost. The 53-47% defeat of the first proposed Budget involved distinct circumstances, most notably the controversy over what was initially proposed as "the Wellness Center," and the teacher-contract negotiations. There is no evidence that last year's vote represents a mandate from Scarsdale voters to substantially reduce the 2014-15 School Budget, which will be based on unique financial factors. We respectfully submit that the 2014-15 Budget should be developed based on educational and financial merits for next year and the years that follow, in the best interests of the students and community at large.

4. Engaging Albany to Reduce the Burden
As the Administration, the Board and the Scarsdale community work together to craft a school district budget that is educationally and fiscally best for Scarsdale, irrespective of the tax cap, all stakeholders in the schools should also work together to seek immediate relief from Albany unfunded mandates. We must work to reduce the burden on local resident taxpayers without diminishing the quality of our schools and, relatedly, the value of our homes. We pledge to support efforts by the School Board on behalf of the Scarsdale community in this regard.

In sum, we support the continuation of a tradition of community budgeting in Scarsdale that satisfies the needs of our students and local community, not the politics of Albany.

Respectfully submitted,

Valerie and Steven Abrahams Margot Abrahams
Benjamin Abrahams
Robyn Adams
Rebecca Appleman
Linda Doucette-Ashman and Harvey Ashman
Moira Crouch Bandsma
Allison Beitler
Lee and Nan Berke
Melissa and Eric Berridge
Jeff Blatt
Sharon and Eldad Blaustein
Jim and Mary Blum
Elissa and Scott Bookner
David M. Brodsky
Eve Caligor and Michael Blumstein
Rick and Charlotte Carr
Jeri Casden
Karen and Rob Ceske
Linda Hillman Chayes
Lynne Clark
Jen Cohen
Jen Constantin
Lisa and Jordan Copeland
Beth Cukier
Michelle and Chris DeLong
David and Leah Dembitzer
Linda Dietz
Dan and Eileen Donovan
Susan and Scott Douglass
James and Shirley Dugan
Lisa Eisenstein
Olga and Simon Eligulashvili
Brett and Jennifer Fischer
Felicia Fisher
Nancy and Bruce Frank
Joan and Andy Frankle
Bill and Julie Freihofner
Karen Fried and Marc Sullivan
Kristin and Gary Friedman
Michelle Friedman
Pamela and Craig Fuehrer
Lisa Gans
Beth and Jeff Gelles
Lisa Gerson
Marie Girardi
Suzanne Glaser
Jenny Goldban
Victor J. Goldberg
Phyllis and Alvin Goldman
Jonathan and Amy Goldstein
Liz Gordon
Andrew and Deborah Gorrin
Susan Greenberg
Diane and Marc Greenwald
Liz and Steve Gruber
Dara Broxmeyer Gruenberg
Ben Guise
Sara Herbst
Alice Herman
Hyunseok Hwang and Katharine Miao
Irin Israel
Marisa Jackson and Neil Faden
Seema Jaggi
Alex Kelston
Andrew Kilhoury
Denise Koslowsky
Keira Krausz
Denise and Michael Josephs
Barbara Guss Kemp
Rochelle and Howard Kivell
Greer Lanzet
Meg and David Lazarus
Tracey Lee
Andrew and Sara Buchdahl Levine
Michelle and Frank Lichtenberg
Susan Livingston
John Livingston
Dana Matsushita
Tracy McCarthy
Bonnie Oxenberg McShain
Shreya Mehta
Heather Gilchriest Meili
Lisa Messinger and Aaron Panken
Nancy and David Michaels
Margot and Dan Milberg
Bill and Stephie Miller
Margie Miller
Anne Moretti
Daniel Moretti
BK Munguia
Victoria Nadler
Val and Roger Neustadt
Amanda North
Sarah Nussbaum
Abigail Sterling Olsen
Steve Pass
Phyllis and Brad Perkins
Linda and Seth Plattus
Barbara Pollard and Mitchell Stein
Rachel Hannah Polsky
Steve and Julie Ann Raab
Ruth Raisfeld and Leonard Benowich
Deborah and David Rapaport
Ken and Ruth Raskin
Karen Robelen
Lisa Rodman
Elaine and Ira Rosenstein
Susan Kessler Ross
Jennifer and Mark Rossano
Denise Rothberg
Leora Rub
Pamela and Paul Rubin
Arthur and Erika Rublin
Einat and Gil Sadka
Steve and Nancie Schnur
Jill Schulmann
Peter and Miriam Seeley
Samantha Shabman
Stephanie and Stuart Shabman
Bela and Rikin Sheth
Leo Sigrah
Vickie and Ken Silver
Terri Simon
Harriet Sobol
Scott and Jocelyn Sontag
Elanna Spiegel
Irnest Spiegel
Jeffrey Spiegel
Joyce Spiegel
Matt Spielman
Jill and Gary Spieler
Melanie and Jeff Spivak
Eric and Jill Staffin
Laura and Peter Strauss
Julian Stein
Tara Stein
Michelle Sterling and David Fenigstein
Carolyn Stevens
Evelyn Stock
Ellen and Bob Sunness
Leesa Suzman
Jonathan Tamir
Richard and Joan Toder
Alan and Nancy Trager
Jon Ungar
Michael and Loretta Vickers
Gina and Brian Waldman
John and Jacquie Walter
Allison Weinberg
Steve and Sharon Weinberg
Stacey Zoland