PTC Executive Committee and Budget Study Statement on the Proposed 2026-27 Budget for Scarsdale Schools
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March 23, 2026
On behalf of the PTC Executive Committee Officers, the PTA Presidents of the seven Scarsdale Schools, and the PTC Budget Study Chairs, we thank the District Administration and the Board of Education for scheduling this budget forum for the community to comment on the proposed 2026-2027 budget. Additionally, thank you to the leadership of the seven PTAs, school budget liaisons, and parents for their collaboration in this process. The PTC EC, the PTA presidents of the seven Scarsdale schools, and one of the PTC Budget Study chairs support the proposed 2026-2027 budget in order to ensure that our students thrive academically, emotionally, and socially.
The proposed budget of $197 million is at the tax cap and represents a 3.37% tax levy increase. Using a median assessed home value of approximately $1,320,000 in Scarsdale and $1,971,000 in the Mamaroneck Strip, this is estimated to result in an increase in taxes of approximately $715 in 2026-2027 for median Scarsdale homeowners and a decrease in taxes of $1,116 for median Mamaroneck Strip homeowners. We recognize the challenges associated with prior and current inflationary pressures, particularly rising healthcare costs, on the school budget.
It is important to note that this budget does not accommodate key staffing recommendations proposed by the District, such as the initially proposed addition of a high school math Full Time Employee (FTE), the expansion of ICT to 7th and 8th grade, and the additional social worker support in elementary schools for the 2026-2027 school year. These are important priorities for the Executive Committees of the PTC and the PTAs, and we are hopeful that the District and future boards will continue to focus on these requests.
PTC Student-Centered Priorities
As PTC and PTA leaders, our focus is to support meaningful growth and development for every student. The PTC Budget Study Co-Chairs have endeavored to solicit parent feedback so that the school budget reflects our community values. We have invited parents to be engaged in the budget process via PTA newsletters and local social media sites, as well as the Budget Study Co-Chairs sending out Google Forms to encourage residents to pose questions and to share their feedback with the District, the Board of Education, and the PTC Budget Study Chairs.
With District data showing that 16% of math sections exceed 25 students, the previously proposed math teacher at the high school is an important staffing need. Additionally, at the middle school, we are concerned about the potential impact of the delay in hiring a Special Education FTE on student outcomes. Also, we are concerned that withdrawing the recommended social workers at the elementary schools is a lost opportunity for enhanced social and mental health support.
Overview of Proposed Budget
The proposed 2026-2027 budget presently totals $197,098,146, an increase of about $5.6 million, or 2.92%, over the current school year. This indicates a moderation in the rate of growth from the prior year; the 2025-2026 budget reflected an increase of 3.55% over the prior year's budget. The District is growing the budget more slowly in 2026-2027 than it did in 2025-2026, because it made about $2 million in proposed staff withdrawals and other adjustments to stay within the tax cap.
The overall budget trajectory continued to be influenced by contractual salary increases and rising benefits costs. The major projected increases driving this proposed budget include $2.8 million in health insurance costs, $3 million in salary and wage increases, $400,000 in Social Security and Medicare costs, and $1.1 million in contractual obligations including student services and insurance.
In the Scarsdale School District, property taxes account for about 92% of the district's revenue. While Scarsdale receives state aid and IDEA grants, these funding sources represent a very small portion of the district's total funding.
Macroeconomic Factors and Risk Mitigation
We are cognizant that macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges have caused inflation to be at a slightly elevated level relative to the Federal Reserve’s inflation goal of 2%, which impacts some of the District’s expenditures. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge that we are in a rising taxes environment due to the proposed Village budget, approved pool bond, as well as the proposed school budget and capital projects bond. We appreciate that the District cabinet members have met with members of the PTC and PTAs to answer our questions about the education objectives and the tax impact of this proposed budget.
As other PTC members in previous years have recommended, we encourage District cabinet members and future Board of Education trustees to maintain the unassigned fund balance at the 4% limit, which presently is projected to be about $8 million at fiscal year end June 2026.
Before the Board of Education votes on the budget resolution on April 13, taxpayers would benefit from the District creating a budget tax calculator to enable them to see the impact of the budget for their specific households and so that they have an opportunity to share any feedback with the Board. Additionally, now that the scope of the bond has been finalized and that this proposed budget is nearing its final stage, it would be helpful for the community to see an updated long term financial model that shows the next five years of planned sources and uses of funds and how they influence the projected operating deficit.
Concluding Comments
Thank you for taking parents’ and our feedback into consideration as you finalize the budget. We appreciate your focus on community engagement. We encourage the Scarsdale community to continue being involved in the budget process. We reiterate our support for this proposed budget and remind everyone to please vote on Tuesday, May 19 from 7am - 9pm at the Scarsdale Middle School.
See the entire statement and appendices here.
Signed by:
PTC Officers and PTA Presidents 2025-2026
Erica German, PTC President, 2025-2026
Rokaya Hassaballa, PTC President-Elect, 2025-2026
Shilpa Spencer, PTC Treasurer, 2024-2026
Jeannie Adashek, PTC Secretary, 2025-2027
Erika Rublin, PTA President, Scarsdale High School 2025-2026
Gina Chon, PTA President, Scarsdale Middle School, 2025-2026
Chelsey Mitchell, PTA Co-President, Edgewood Elementary, 2025-2026
Jackie Nimer, PTA Co-President, Edgewood Elementary, 2025-2026
Jess Rosenberg, PTA Co-President, Fox Meadow Elementary, 2025-2026
Dorathy Sunshine, PTA Co-President, Fox Meadow Elementary, 2025-2026
Liza King, PTA President, Greenacres Elementary, 2025-2026
Saum Shetty, PTA President, Heathcote Elementary, 2025-2026
Sandra Brudnick, PTA President, Quaker Ridge Elementary, 2025-2026
Budget Study 2025-2026
Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez
Letter to the Community from Superintendent Andrew Patrick
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Here is a letter from Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Drew Patrick. He encourages everyone, with or without children in the schools, to read the letter to gain an understanding of the school budget.
Dear Scarsdale Community,
I am writing to you today to share important information about the work underway to develop our 2026-27 school budget. On Monday evening, the Board of Education is scheduled to meet for the third and final Budget Study Session related to the proposed 2026-27 school budget. During that meeting, the District Administration anticipates presenting a tax cap compliant budget. Arriving at this budget has required difficult choices, and I want to communicate as clearly as possible the rationale for decisions that we will present and discuss during the meeting. I know that the budget process is not something everyone in our community tunes into regularly, so I hope you find this helpful. The message is followed by several frequently asked questions in case you are interested in a deeper understanding of the situation we find ourselves in.
Members of our community who have followed school budgeting for a long time will recognize that the process has been more strenuous and difficult over the past several years. Historically, Scarsdale has been a district that has been appropriately resourced which has enabled program innovation, expansion to take place while maintaining outstanding educational outcomes. This community has shown a level of financial support that reflects the real cost and value of an exemplary public education, more so than in many (dare I say most?) 
other places. In recent years, however, our ability to do more has been restricted by the normalization of 2% growth brought about by the tax cap. In fact, in some ways we are doing the same with less, as the pace of inflation has outstripped the growth of our budgetary resources (click here for a good NYSSBA article about this). While a tax cap override is a tool available to the Board, I believe evidence suggests it is a tool to be used judiciously and prudently. An unsuccessful budget vote is a worst-case scenario. Our community did support a significant override (4.45% tax increase) in 2024. This year, we are asking the community to not only support a budget, but also a $101 million bond referendum to make much needed capital improvements to aging buildings across our district. With that as background, I invite you to read on to learn more about where we stand with respect to the 2026-27 proposed budget.
Sincerely,
Dr. Drew Patrick
Superintendent
Read the balance of the letter here:
Puffs on Stage at SHS this Weekend
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The Scarsdale High School Drama Club is proud to present their spring play, Puffs, on stage at SHS on March 13 at 8 pm and March 14 at 7 pm!
Puffs is the story of seven anincreasingly eventful years at a certain school of magic. While many people know the story of a certain boy wizard at this school, Puffs follows the lesser known characters, the ones who are sidelined far too often. This show is packed with wacky comedy and crazy shenanigans, making this a great choice for families looking to spend a night at the theatre, especially those with young kids who love the story of this magic school!
Sophomore James McNally is playing Wayne Hopkins, the protagonist of this story. When asked about his experience with Puffs, he said “The rehearsal process was a lot of fun. It took time to get used to the fast pace of the show and how we all play multiple characters, but once we got the hang of it, it really came together.” The cast has been working so hard on this show, and they are so excited for you to come see it!! Puffs at Scarsdale High School directed by Barbara Malecki performs 3/13 at 8PM and 3/14 at 7PM!
Understanding the Complexities of Scarsdale’s Special Education Program
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With a $2mm budget gap to fill to keep the 2026-27 Scarsdale School budget below the tax cap, and a $101.7mm school bond vote scheduled for May, the district, the Board of Education and the community are actively reviewing Scarsdale’s $199 mm budget for the next school year.
The numbers are hard to wrap your head around. In order to get a fix on just one component of the budget, Special Education, which at approximately $22 mm per year represents about 11% of the total budget, Assistant Superintendent Eric Rauschenbach invited us to pose some questions in an effort to understand this complex piece of the puzzle.
Number of Students Served
First, how many students are served? Data through 2024 shows that in Scarsdale, 14%, or 662 students have a CSE Classification Rate. This rate has almost doubled over the last twenty years, as only 6.8% or 371 students had this classification in 2010. Scarsdale’s classification rate is lower than the NYS Classification Rate which stands at 20% and Westchester County’s at around 17%. As of 2024, 617 students, or 13.2% of the student population had a 504 Identification.
What do these designations mean?
There are 2 laws that govern K-12 disabilities, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Section 504 (ADA). All students have one or the other; they cannot have both. Functionally, students with an IEP (through IDEA) are students who need specialized instruction from a special education teacher ie. LRC/ICT/Special Class. Students with a 504 only need accommodation or modification and/or some related services. 504s on the elementary level tend to have related services (OT/PT/Speech) which lessen and disappear (in large part) by middle school, the vast majority of secondary 504s are classroom modifications and testing accommodations.
What does the special education program offer? There are several programs offered and here are some definitions:
Inclusion Classes
The largest number of elementary special education students are in inclusion classes, which are classes that include a mixture of general education and special education students with two teachers, rather than one. There were just six inclusion classes in 2014 and the district is now up to 25 inclusion classes, or about 25% of elementary school classrooms.
Learning Resource Room
Another component of the program is extra help provided by the Learning Resources staff at all grade levels, elementary through high school. LRC is the largest program at the secondary level.
Special Education Classes
The district houses three four self contained special education classes, now with 3 at Edgewood Elementary School and one at SMS. These are referred to as 8:1:2 and 12:1:1 classes. The names of the programs denote the state staffing requirements for the programs (number of kids : number of teachers : number of aides) the 12:1:1 is one teacher and one assistant, the 8:1:2 is one teacher, one assistant, and one aide.
This year the program serves 21 Scarsdale students and 5 out of district students – 2 of the out of district students are in special classes and three are in other programs where there is space.
Rauschenbach has expanded Scarsdale’s in district program because he believes students and parents would prefer to have children educated in their own district – and it is more economical to do so.
Outside Placements
Still another group of students, 23 this year, are attending schools outside the district where Scarsdale pays the tuition. According to Rauschenbach, “Cost for students in outside placements averages $99,000 per student but can range from $75,000 to well over $200,000 per student dependent on needs.” The number of outplacements has decreased from 50 students in 2016 to 23 this year.
Rauschenbach explained, “8 of the students are of high school age and placed out because they need an alternate assessment program (our program has not expanded to SHS yet), 11 students district-wide are at social emotional programs (more intensive than our SSP program - some residential), 3 students are out in need of specialized academic programs, and 1 student is out of District (elementary) for alternate assessment but has very complex medical needs.”
Staffing
We asked Rauschenbach for the numbers surrounding staffing and here are two charts, that when added together, provide a picture of the growth since 2014.
In the coming school year, in order to extend the inclusion class program in the middle school, one position will be added at SMS. For the 2027-28 year. Rauschenbach expects that in coming years, an additional teacher may be needed at SMS and another at the high school.
Budget for Therapy and Services
We asked Rauschenbach how much is budgeted for services like speech, OT etc. per student and he explained, “We don't budget per student as we use our current FTEs and a mix of contractors - there is a cost but it fluctuates widely by student/building. We did add an incurred cost for tuition students at 12K per student per year (purposely generous as most students would be below this and it assumes no tuition students would be served by FTEs). If we were to assume that for all in-district students (which would be too high) then it would be an additional $396,000 - $468,000 depending on the year and the number of students in the programs district-wide. Again, this is wildly high as many of these students are seen by our FTEs where there is no invoiced cost. As the chart shows, the in-district versus out of District savings (without tuition revenue) is between $1.6 and $2.2 million.”
Life Skills
In order to extend the life skills program to Scarsdale High School, the 2026-27 school budget includes $330,000 to construct a kitchen and laundry facilities at SHS. Rauschenbach thought the estimate was high but said the equipment is necessary.
2026-27 Special Education Budget
As we staff and build out our in district programs Rauschenbach expects the Special Education budget to level off in the next few years. Accepting out of district tuition students who pay tuition to Scarsdale will help to defray program costs. This year five out of district students are attending the special education classes. At $89,000 per student they have improved the economics of the program and projections show that with that revenue, there is a $2mm plus savings to hosting the SPED programs in-district rather than sending these students out of district.
Last we posed a more general question about the allocation of district resources, We asked “There are always choices to be made when allocating the school budget…. especially now as we are experiencing some challenges. As administrators, how do you evaluate the need for staff and facilities for a small group of Special Education students vs. requests for additional staff for the math/science curriculum or facilities costs for labs etc.?
He said, “First, special education students are due a free and appropriate education as a civil right. Secondly, the in-district program cost is below what the costs would be for out of district (OOD) placements (FYI, OOD placement costs are out-stripping our predictions so the projection is probably low for those). This bond discussion is an example of balancing the needs of many stakeholders and making sure the capitol improvements have benefits for all students. Scarsdale has both extremely successful programs for special ed but also general education students -- the measurable outcomes in achievement, scores, and college admissions are nation leading for the general education students attending Scarsdale Schools -- that doesn't happen without planning for everyone.”
Boys’ Hockey Defeats White Plains 2-1 in Playoffs
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The Raiders celebrate after beating White Plains 2-1 on Thursday to move on in the section one playoffs.
On Thursday, the Scarsdale Raiders ice hockey team played the White Plains Tigers in the first round of the playoffs. The game was played at Murray’s in Yonkers. It was a tight game but the Raiders came out on top 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the section 1 playoffs.
Scarsdale started the game playing not great and the score was 0-0 going into the third period. Scarsdale was out-shooting White Plains 20-6 and certainly getting their scoring opportunities despite the scoreboard not showing it.
Then, Scarsdale had an early man advantage to start the third period. Just after the two minute man advantage expired, Scarsdale sophomore Leon Zhou put one into the back of the net to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. From this point on, the game was intense, White Plains had opportunities to tie the game up, but Scarsdale goalie Buddy Meiselman stood tall not allowing White Plains to score.
With just under two minutes left in the game, White Plains pulled their goalie and Leon Zhou scored again, this time into the empty net for his second goal of the game giving Scarsdale a 2-0 lead. The game was not done yet as White Plains scored with 25 seconds left to cut the lead to 2-1 but it was too little too late and Scarsdale survived, winning the game 2-1 and moving on to the next round of the playoffs.
The Raiders next playoff game will be this upcoming Monday at 4:15PM against BYSNS* in the quarterfinal round. The game will be played at the Brewster Ice Arena. This will be the fourth year in a row that Scarsdale and BYSNS meet in the playoffs with Scarsdale winning the first two years and BYSNS beating the Raiders in the playoffs last year.
*BYSNS is a combined team with players representing Brewster, Yorktown, Somers and North Salem high schools.
