PT Council Executive Committee Comments on Proposed 2025-26 School Budget

(The following statement was submitted to the Board of Education at the March 3, 2025 meeting)

The Scarsdale Parent-Teacher Council Executive Committee (PTC EC) and the PT Council Budget Study Chairs would like to thank the district administration and Board of Education for hosting Budget Study Session #1 and #2 for the community. We believe that transparency, and early and ongoing communication with District parents and the Scarsdale community is essential to a comprehensive and effective budget process. We would like to provide some general comments.

By way of background, part of our budget study process for the 2025-26 fiscal year, the PTC EC and Budget Study Chairs are working closely with representatives from all seven Scarsdale schools to identify key initiatives, issues, and budget items that reflect the priorities of the broader school communities. Additionally, you may receive input from school-based PTA Budget Study representatives regarding specific requests for individual schools.

The PTC EC and Budget Study Chairs appreciate the transparency in identifying areas for the community’s consideration as it relates to potential reductions to close the gap toward achieving a budget at or below this year’s Tax Cap. Controlled spending is now apparently needed as informed by the initial budget assessment coupled with the five-year projection to maintain fund balances, continued fiscal responsibility and to remain below the Tax Cap. Thank you for your continued focus on this effort as reflected in the Budget Study Session #2.

Given that the recent spending trajectory, as outlined in the Long-Range Financial Planning presentation, projects an operating deficit in the 2027-2028 fiscal year, the PTC appreciates the administration’s efforts to suggest prioritized spending cuts in an effort to avoid a negative fund balance. Along with setting expectations that a reduction in spending requires careful consideration of what can be left out of the budget the PTC EC and Budget Study Chairs request that the administration do this in a way that has the least impact to the student population and explore creative options that are strategic in nature and provide long term benefit. One such area is to explore further analysis to creatively provide employee benefits with guardrails to maintain it as a business and to pursue current and additional revenue streams. Sports are an important part of the student experience, well being and part of the school community, broader community and team spirit. Cuts at this level are less desirable than finding areas of budget reduction that don’t directly impact the student experience or uncovering creative ways to increase revenues. We appreciate the focus to maintain sports in general including those outside of the section 1 category.

Aging playgrounds have been included in the budget and should remain a priority since replacement is paramount for maintaining their safety as they have exceeded their expected lifespan. But all capital projects should be closely assessed to address a strategic rollout to spread funding out over time with consideration of the dwindling reserves and maintain a fiscally responsible bottom line.

The PTC is impressed with the district’s ongoing commitment to effective technology usage policies in the Scarsdale schools and staying attuned with state requirements. With the current "Off and Away" policy at the elementary and middle school levels, and the use of cell phone caddies at the high school, our practices are among the best in the region. We encourage the district to continue monitoring Governor Hochul’s priorities, particularly her focus on the rollout of the “bell-to-bell” ban on personal devices, understanding at this time the state will assist in funding.

The PTC EC and Budget Study Chairs are strong proponents of maintaining small class sizes, providing comprehensive student support, and promoting teaching practices that nurture the development of the whole child. We advocate for initiatives that prioritize student mental health, well-being, and the creation of an inclusive environment where all students feel a sense of belonging within our diverse community. Furthermore, we endorse a continued commitment to the creation and implementation of innovative, best-in-class curriculum practices, and encourage ongoing professional development to strengthen these critical elements of the student experience. We ask for continued transparency in new developments and curriculum changes as well as being informed of benchmarking demonstrating effectiveness of specific programming.

Over the next few weeks, as the Board of Education and the District work through the Budget Priorities for the 2025 -2026 school year we ask that you continue to keep our students as the driving priority. Our planning must allow for us to maintain the current instruction levels as well as allow for the growth in areas previously defined but to also give consideration to resources needed to successfully communicate and rollout new programs strategically while allowing us to properly finance the infrastructure and capital projects that continue to increase year over year and while maintaining the safety of the schools through technology and keeping with changing and advancing trends. We ask that you assess the health plan cost increases to get to the root cause of growth and look at possible guardrails that may put reasonable caps on claims. While we want staff and teachers to have the best plan possible we ask that you consider changing practices that may best serve the budget and long term balance sheet. We ask that you look at cutting spending on physical materials that can be postponed to next year or beyond such as desks or other office furniture that are not essential to learning, reasonable comfort or safety. While fields are important to support our sports programs we ask that the administration look at the responsible rollout of spend on field work that will come from the school budget. Understanding that flooding is a concern at the High School it is important to look at how this flood mitigation budget responsibility is shared with the town and made transparent through any spend The town has put aside some funds and the school budget for 2024-2025 has indicated $950,000 for stormwater mitigation projects at the High School. We encourage you to continue engaging the community this budget season so that the budget reflects a shared goal for our District as we move forward. The PTC EC and Budget Study chairs look forward to engaging in this work with you.


The PT Council Executive Committee and Budget Study Chairs:

Meryl Satler, PT Council President
Erica German, PT Council President-Elect
Jeanette Rosen, PT Council Secretary
Shilpa Spencer, PT Council Treasurer
Cindy Yau, SHS PTA President
Emily Hira, SMS PTA President
Andrea Burinescu, Heathcote PTA President
Eul Hui, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Katy Goldman, Fox Meadow PTA Co-President
Tulika Khemani, Greenacres PTA President
Katie Garvey, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Jessy Li, Edgewood PTA Co-President
Lindsay Forschner, Quaker Ridge PTA President
Irena Turner, PTC Budget Study Co-Chair
Ranjana Saini-Chandarana, PTC Budget Study Co-Chair