Scarsdale PT Council Opposes Proposed Executive Budget Cuts to Foundation Aid

The following statement was read by PT Council President Leah Dembitzer at the March 4, 2024 Scarsdale School Board meeting.

To the Scarsdale Schools’ Community:

The Scarsdale PT Council Executive Committee, as well as the PTC Legislative Advocacy, and PTC Budget Study Chairs would like to alert our school community to the following: the Governor’s Executive Budget cuts expected school aid. The Executive Budget change to Foundation Aid will reduce state aid to the Scarsdale Schools in 2024-2025 by $558,720. In addition, and according to NYS PTA’s analysis, high needs school districts will shoulder 50% of the share of the proposed statewide Foundation Aid cuts. Thus, the students who need the most support from the state will bear the burden of the loss of funding.

Scarsdale PT Council calls on our parent community to take action, not only for our own community but also for surrounding school districts, non sibi.

As per the NYS PTA’s recent call to action, please note the following:

The Executive Budget cuts expected school aid by more than $400 million in two ways:

1. The Executive Budget terminates the “Save Harmless” provision. The provision continues funding for school districts with declining student enrollment, funding them at their current school aid levels. This proposed cut would affect nearly 400 school districts and would amount to more than $150 million.

2. The Executive Budget changes the Foundation Aid formula by modifying the way in which the inflationary measure is calculated: moving to an arbitrary and capricious averaging of 10 years (2014-2023) of inflationary (Consumer Price Index) numbers, excluding the highest and lowest years. This change would result in a cut of more than $300 million to New York State public schools.

NYS PTA and the Scarsdale PT Council Executive Committee strongly oppose the cuts to school aid proposed in the Executive Budget:

-This proposal will cause irreparable harm to some of our most vulnerable students.
-This proposal devalues children and the work that educators do each day to support them.
-This proposal compounds the difficulties in giving all students the support that they need to succeed.

Tell Governor Hochul that you support our children, educators, and schools!

Please Use Your Voice and Take Action!

Sincerely,

Leah Dembitzer, PT Council President
Meryl Satler, PT Council President-Elect
Jeanette Rosen, PT Council Secretary
Rokaya Hassaballa, PT Council Treasurer
Beth Cukier, SHS PTA President
Tina Lin, SMS PTA President
Ammr Vandal, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Jeanine Cole, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Jeannie Adashek, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Leena Gyftopoulos, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Jennifer Galeon, Greenacres PTA President
Deborah Bhatt, Heathcote PTA President
Erica German, Quaker Ridge PTA President
Joshua Mitts, PTC Legislative Advocacy Co-Chair
Rachana Singh PTC Legislative Advocacy Co-Chair
Irena Spiegel-Turner, PTC Budget Study Co-Chair
Ranjana Saini-Chandarana, PTC Budget Study Co-Chair