Board Reviews Personnel Requests for 2025-2026 School Budget

The Board held a budget meeting on 1-27-25 where administrators highlighted current staffing levels, discussed new staffing requests for next year and detailed the programming that staffing will enable the District to provide for Scarsdale students.

To start the discussion, Superintendent Patrick took a few moments to remind meeting attendees that the “District budget provides the necessary financial resources to operate the school district and to help achieve the goals and objectives of the school system as set forth in the strategic plan.” He went on to demonstrate through several slides how the District’s new vision statement complements their mission statement and how both are supported by three big ideas represented by the areas of Learning, Living and Leading. These slides are available for viewing here.

Patrick also took time to outline the programming and structure of the elementary schools, middle school, and high school including small class size, special education, and course offerings. He added, “We think it's important to reaffirm how valuable these structures are and how they contribute to a positive school experience for students and it's also important to point out these are the assumptions that we're making going forward that these things would continue.”

Assistant Superintendent for Business Andrew Lennon addressed the Board next saying, “As we start to think about the staffing needs of our district, we also have to have some financial context for this conversation.” In addition to reviewing the tax cap, Lennon highlighted an important takeaway from Governor Hochul’s recent proposal that directly impacts Scarsdale's budget. Lennon related that Foundation Aid, a category which the District feared would be reduced in last year's budget, will have modest adjustments in the Governor's budget proposal. Based on the information shared in the proposal, the District anticipates a small increase in Foundation Aid of about $75,000, and essentially flat expense based aids in the coming year..

Before delving into the staffing recommendations, Meghan Troy, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, first took a moment to review the District’s current and historical staffing and student enrollment providing needed context for where the District has been and where it is headed. In the slides, Troy highlighted the historical district wide staffing of full time employees and noted an increase in district wide staffing as student enrollment has remained steady over time. She explained that this increase in staffing numbers was in line with the work the District has done to develop special education, ICT classes.

Headcout has climbed by 74 and enrollment has declined by 82 students in the last ten years.

Troy made clear that as an important part of the budget process, “We ask our principals and district leaders to think deeply about what they're requesting and what the impacts are both financially, and on other programs.” She went on to explain that the rationales for the proposals also involve many conversations with the administrative council and leaders and added, “Over the past several years, we've organized our proposals in a three tiered system to help identify the level of importance of the request and its match to our guiding principles. So our Tier One recommendations are strongly aligned to our guiding principles and therefore have our full endorsement as necessary to deliver the program we envision for our students and our necessities for the effective operation of our schools.”

Troy then detailed the Tier 1 staffing recommendations for the 2025-26 school year which include a 1.0 Special Education Teachers at SMS, a 1.0 Special Education Teachers at SHS, and a HS Math .5 FTE. The rationale for these recommendations can be found in the following slides: 32, 33, 34. 

Assistant Superintendent Eric Rauschenbach is proposing to expand the Special Education Program in the middle school and high school. If approved by the board, in the middle school there would be a new 8:1:2 class requiring an additional teacher, a teaching assistant and an aide to accommodate three students with significant and unique needs. At the high school, he is proposing an additional 12:1:1 class, requiring an additional teacher and an aide. This class will accommodate the needs of 4 or 5 students.

Troy went on to relate that there are two staffing recommendations that are not directly related to additional FTEs. The first, she explained, is changing a district math coordinator position to a probationary position from what is currently not a probationary position. The second looks at elementary social worker contracted positions and expanding them if the District finds additional financial opportunities. Rationale for these changes is highlighted slides 35 and 36 of the presentation which are included here:

Math Coordinator

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Dr. Edgar McIntosh provided the rationale for the math coordinator position stating, “I’m very happy to provide rationale and advocacy to maintain the second elementary math coordinator position going forward. In the third year of our program and implementation using the Reveal Math resources, we found that the additional support provided by the second math coordinator effectively elevated adult learning and corresponding student growth. Robust math instructional coaching remains critical in order to responsively address the needs of our students and teachers during implementation. Beyond a successful rollout, ongoing cohesive and responsive professional development is crucial to ensuring content coverage and skill development while expanding mathematical practices, As well this current model will guarantee capacity to support new faculty in those reassigned to a new grade. Curricular adaptations are always essential to any program. Our coordinators have been skilled at facilitating both meaningful and collaborative supports and enrichments for Scarsdale students and have begun the important work of designing performance assessments. You'll be hearing more and more about performance assessments in the coming year as they challenge students to authentically demonstrate deep understanding.”

He went on to say, “Vertical articulation of methods and resources is a positive practice that can be particularly complex when bridging elementary and middle school levels. We plan to adjust one math coordinator's schedule to enable professional development with middle school math educators focusing specifically on sixth grade while continuing to support grades four and five. Having coaches with the depth of knowledge of both elementary and secondary practices will help facilitate the translation across the two levels, providing a smoother transition for students.”

Social Workers

In support of finding funding for additional elementary social workers, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education Eric Rauschenbach shared, “In looking at our elementary social work services we added two years ago, the addition of two contracted social workers through Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling has provided much needed and appreciated support to elementary school students and families. Our elementary administrators and psychologists have seen the tremendous impact these social workers have had in the support of our children and families. However, the challenge of only having two social workers across five buildings is obvious in that they're limited in their availability. We would like to expand these services if the budget allows. While this is a contracted service and does not actually fall under an FTE, if we are able to find offsetting finances within the budget, we would like to add an additional contracted social worker, which would be roughly $75,000 to increase the availability of social workers in our elementary schools.”

Budget Schedule

Dr. Patrick ended the presentation with a reminder that Budget Study Session number one will be held on Monday February 3rd and will focus on current year end projections and a first draft budget plan for next year. On March 3rd, Budget Study Session Two will discuss an update to the draft budget plan and a focus on instructions, special ed facilities, safety and security and technology. Then Budget Study Session Number Three on March 10 will focus on an update to the budget plan and a full budget presentation. March 24th the board will hold a Public Budget Forum and review and then on April 7th the Board will be asked to adopt the budget so that we can meet all of our statutory requirements before the May 20th budget vote.

Board Questions

After the presentation several Board Members asked a number of thoughtful questions to help clarify their understanding of the proposed recommendations. Among other questions, Board Member Leah Dembitzer asked, “Regarding the timeline, do you have any potential timing of when you would have a budget book in this process?” Andrew Lennon fielded this question and answered, “The majority of the information is populated after the Budget Study Session One so we can kind of correspond to where we are at that point in the process. So somewhere between Budget Study Session One and Two.”

After asking several questions, Ron Schulhof said he was surprised about the number of staffing requests and questioned how the community might respond to a request for more staffing additions given constant enrollment. Schulhof also questioned the administrators about space limitations and where these new classes would go.

Board members also asked Troy for information behind the projected enrollment increase of 80 students. She explained that the number was from the demographer but these projections are not done every year.

A robust discussion covered these topics and questions concerning making the second math coordinator a permanent position, how an additional Special Education FTE would be utilized at the high school, why high school students seem to be more drawn to courses like AT Statistics and so much more. Viewers can watch the discussion and the entire Budget Presentation here.

Reserves

During the Public Comment portion of the Board meeting that followed, Fox Meadow resident Claudine Gecel spoke to share her concerns about the District’s diminishing Reserve Fund reported on at a previous meeting. Referring to the scenario below, Gecel stated, “I am here because I heard that the budgeting process is starting to get off the rails. Money has been taken from reserves – we were in an emergency situation. In 2 years the fund balance looks like it will be halved – this is not a good trend. Referring to balancing a budget she said, “ As a fiduciary, you can’t consider a 2-legged stool. Using up the fund balance is not going in a good direction. NYS suggests a capital reserve and we don’t have one.”

After the Budget Presentation, the Board held a business meeting in which several noteworthy topics were discussed. A few of the highlights include:

Board Coffee

President Suzie Hahn invited the community to attend the next “Board Coffee” On February 11th at 7pm in Conference Room 170-172 at Scarsdale High School.

Friday Five

Dr. Patrick drew attention to the first edition of the new Friday Five, a communication piece that aims to share five things about our schools in a brief digestible format. Patrick related, “This may include upcoming events announcements or requests for community input or participation. We will also use this format to share good news about learning and teaching in Scarsdale. At the bottom of the message is a link to our public information address to share ideas, feedback or questions.” The Friday Five was emailed to parents via Parent Square.

After School Childcare

Patrick also explained that the District is currently conducting a survey regarding after school child care. He explained, “We've been studying the feasibility of opening our elementary schools to license child care providers in order to meet the growing demand for after school child care for our students in grades K through five.” He made clear that Scarsdale Schools would not be the provider of this care. It would be delivered by a licensed third party provider. He went on, “We know the data that we're collecting through this survey will help potential partners determine if offering a program is viable or not, so we have sent the survey out in time for a decision to be made for the start of the 2025 2026 school year. The survey closes this Friday and the results will be shared with those partners.”

Smartphone Ban

Another highlight included information about Governor Hochul’s proposal that would require all school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of internet enabled devices by students on school grounds during the school day. Patrick explained that policies would be required to include one or more methods for onsite storage of a device during the day, but said that exemptions would be allowed, for example, if authorized for a specific educational purpose necessary for managing health condition, or where the device would be needed as a part of an individual education program or 504 plan. He also described the policy and funding discussions that have already been taking place at the administrative level and expects to have more information at the BOE meeting on March 3rd.

Academic Calendar

Dr. Patrick presented a brief overview of the draft 2025-26 calendar and said that the calendar is influenced by a number of factors and that they work hard to arrive at a calendar that represents the best solution to a complex problem. He also highlighted some of the changes made in recent years to include days off from school for our students and families who observe particular holidays. Some of these holidays include the Lunar or Chinese New Year, which Patrick mentioned, “In addition to being a locally determined school holiday, chapter 359 of the laws of 2023 established Asian lunar New Year as a New York State school holiday for students. Since the holiday fell on a Saturday last year, this is actually the first year it's being observed statewide as a school closure.”

The proposed calendar also includes a day off in observance of Eid al-Adha on Tuesday, May 27th, which makes Memorial Day weekend a five day break. You can see the proposed calendar here.

Watch the meeting in its entirety here.