Letter to the Community from Superintendent Andrew Patrick
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- Written by: Joanne Wallenstein
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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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- Written by: Joanne Wallenstein
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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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- Written by: Joanne Wallenstein
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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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- Written by: Jack Capobianco
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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.
Use this Calculator to Assess the Impact of the $101.7mm Bond on Your Taxes
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- Written by: Joanne Wallenstein
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Are you wondering how much your school taxes will go up due to the proposed $101.7mm school bond?
In response to requests from residents, the school district has built a property tax calculator to allow homeowners to calculate the impact of the bond on their own property taxes by year.
The calculator is easy to use. It shows you how to look up your home’s assessed value and input that into the model to find out your tax increase – and decrease for the years 2028-2049.
We tested it by inputting an assessed value of $1,400,000 and found that the total tax impact would be $2,474 from 2028-2036 and then decline until 2046.
Since the Village is also issuing $70mm in bonds to finance the indoor/outdoor pool, it would be great if they could combine their tax impact with the school bond, so that taxpayers could get an overall estimate of the impact of the two initiatives together.
Check out the school tax calculator here – and input your comments below.
