PTC Supports the Proposed 2023-24 School Budget and Auditorium Bond

At the March 27, 2023 Budget Study Session of the Scarsdale School Board, the Scarsdale PT Council Executive Committee and Budget Study Committee expressed their support for the proposed 2023-24 School Budget and the Bond for the auditorium.

Here is their statement.

Good evening, My name is Christopher Bach, and together with Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez, we are the Scarsdale Parent Teacher Council (PTC) Budget Study Co-Chairs for the 2023-2024 budget study season. After analyzing the proposed budget, both the PTC Executive Committee and PTC Budget Study Chairs support this year’s budget. We believe that the proposed budget addresses the PTC’s budget priorities identified in November, in addition to being fiscally responsible.

Source: ‘Proposed Budget 2023-24,’ Scarsdale School District, March 27, 2027.

We would like to thank and recognize Mr. Stuart Mattey, Dr. Drew Patrick, and others in the administration for your work on this budget. And we appreciate the questions about the budget from members of the Board of Education, PTC, and individual budget study liaisons of all seven schools. We also thank members of the Scarsdale PTA community for their involvement during this entire process; this has been a year of increased parent involvement, which we believe strengthens our community and educational system.

Community Priorities Identified By Budget Liaisons

In our statement from November, the PTC Budget Study Chairs identified four main categories of PTA community requests that the District Administration include in the budget. These four categories were:

-Delivery of Educational Services and Student Supports,
-Safety and Security as related to Transportation, Traffic and Grounds,
-Upgraded Facilities, to either enhance or replace existing aging items, and
-Sustainability

Based on the District’s responses to our questions we are pleased to offer our support for the proposed budget, as well as for the separate bond issue for the auditorium. The PT Council Executive Committee and Budget Study Chairs encourage the community to vote “YES” on both the Budget and the Auditorium Bond on May 16.

First, with regard to the community priority of Delivery of Educational Services and Student Supports, the PTC is committed to supporting high quality education for all students as a core value of our District. PT Council strongly supports continued small class size, robust learning and mental health student support, differentiated teaching and learning, and the development of the whole child. We support and encourage initiatives related to mental health and wellness as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, PTC strongly supports continuing enhancements in curriculum and professional development district-wide to enrich and improve student learning in all schools.

We believe this budget will not only maintain Scarsdale’s educational system as a leader in the area, but also, will continue to push Scarsdale Schools to even higher levels. We respectfully request that the District continue to monitor all students’ performance with a critical eye and in a timely manner to always look for ways to support our students across schools, so that they can have the highest academic achievement and individual enrichment possible.

Regarding Safety and Security related to Transportation, Traffic, and Grounds, we are pleased that the full transportation study is included in the 2023-24 budget. As per the proposed 2023-24 budget $24,000 is designated for ‘a comprehensive transportation study which will, among other areas of focus, assist the District in navigating the zero emission fleet requirements of the upcoming years.’ The traffic study is long overdue, and we thank the administration for listening to our request and making it a priority.

On the Upgraded Facilities pillar, we are also pleased that the auditorium project is both moving forward and that it is being addressed via a separate bond issue. The PTC appreciates that the community can vote on the bond issuance. We believe that the District’s interest rate assumptions are presently reasonable. The cost of less than $40 per average household per year is not burdensome to the majority of taxpayers. We also appreciate the contingencies built into the budget, so that residents can be assured that there will be minimal deviation from this estimate. The PTC supports voting in favor of the auditorium project given the initial assumptions presented.

Source: Scarsdale School Auditorium Recommendations.

On the Sustainability pillar, we appreciate that the District views sustainability as a core value of our community and that the District considers sustainability in infrastructure projects. A case in point is the transportation study, which will also review the current fleet of buses with an eye toward analyzing zero emission requirements.

Considerations for The Near Future

For the near future, we respectfully request that the budget study process be revised. This year the proposed budget book was only released at 4:00 pm on March 20th. This is not sufficient time for more residents to be able to fully analyze the budget and to be able to pose questions to the Administration. Please consider allowing at least two budget meetings between the budget release and the community budget forum.

We reiterate our request from November that the District provide an updated plan and schedule for capital improvement projects across all schools for the next five years. Community members have been passionate in their requests for improvements at specific schools that they would like to see implemented, as we shared during our remarks in November. We recognize that some of these improvement requests are identified in the District’s Capital Projects document and realize that due to budgetary constraints, we cannot tackle all capital improvement projects at the seven schools simultaneously. However, the PTC would like to understand what the plan and schedule are for investments in capital improvement projects – whether in future budgets or financed via a future bond issue.

Since we began the budget study process last fall, inflation has continued its upward trajectory and the volatility in the banking sector globally has made the economic environment more precarious. As we did last year, we continue to recommend that the District consider creating and implementing a long-term financial plan that shows the community how our educational values and infrastructure needs will be financed. We thank you for designing a budget and a separate bond issuance for the auditorium that is respectful of the current turbulent economic environment. We value the financial stewardship that the District has shown as exhibited in the District current high credit quality rating of AAA; this rating is critical in keeping the District’s borrowing costs as low as possible.

We would especially like to thank Dr. Patrick and Mr. Mattey for their openness and transparency through this process, as well as their commitment to receiving feedback and giving us detailed explanations about the budget. By its very nature, designing a budget is not an easy process because there are myriad stakeholders, often offering different opinions. Dr. Patrick and Mr. Mattey were always willing to meet with the community, answer questions thoughtfully, make adjustments where necessary, and work collaboratively with the members of the Parent Teacher Council and the PTC Budget Study Chairs. Thank you for valuing cognitive diversity and discussion. We encourage Scarsdale voters to join us in supporting the proposed 2023-24 budget on May 16.

PTC Budget Study Chairs
Chris Bach and Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez

PTC Executive
Lauren Grossberg, PTC President
Leah Dembitzer, PTC President-Elect
Meredith Kent, PTC Secretary
Rokaya Hassaballa, PTC Treasurer
Vanessa Stoffels, SHS PTA President
Deb Lichtenstein, SMS PTA President
Alicia Bowman, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Andrea Fowler, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Berit Berger, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Michelle Schwartz, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Rachel Krisbergh, Greenacres PTA President
Samantha April, Heathcote PTA President
Dana Hirsch, Quaker Ridge PTA President