What You Don’t Know About State Mandates Could Be Harming Your Local School

Take, for example, the recently passed state "tax freeze" law to promote shared school services and/or district mergers. Don't know what this is or what it could mean for the quality of the Scarsdale Schools? Then click here to link to the Scarsdale Parent-Teacher Council Legislation Committee's webpage, where you'll find details of how the new statewide law could affect Scarsdale over the next few years, as well as links to related news articles and research on the supposed vs. actual cost savings to be found in district mergers.

Concerned about the prospect of Scarsdale merging with other districts? Click here for an easy step for all Scarsdalians to take to have their voice heard on this issue.

The State's new "tax freeze" legislation is only the latest in a growing list of Albany imposed challenges to the quality of the Scarsdale Schools. Such is the critical message the PT Council Legislation Committee has been trying to convey to the Scarsdale school community throughout the year, starting with its November presentation at the middle school, "Is New York's 'Race to the Top' Education Plan Dragging Scarsdale Down?" (Click here to watch the Video on Demand.)

To educate the public on how multiple state mandates, including those on student testing, teacher evaluation and new Common Core standards, are increasingly eroding traditional local community control over our schools, the Committee has developed informational webpages on these topics, along with a frequently updated page of suggested Action Steps for all community members to get their voice heard in Albany.

"For Scarsdale parents, it's no longer enough to know what's going on in your child's classroom and school," say co-chairs Nan Berke and Mary Beth Evans. "In order to support your child's learning, you need to be aware of what's been coming at us from Albany and to be willing to stand up for high quality education."

"In fact," the chairs add, "these issues affect and therefore naturally unite all stakeholders in the Scarsdale schools – parents, educators, and taxpayers." They note that a large percentage of the Scarsdale community still needs to be awakened to the growing burden of the State's costly, bureaucratic, one-size-fits-all "reforms" on Scarsdale's ability to maintain local school excellence. "To effectively protect Scarsdale educational quality," they stress, "it's imperative that the entire Scarsdale school community engage in state-level advocacy on behalf of our children." They see the planned restoration of the District's Legislative Advocacy Committee as an important step toward realizing this kind of broad community engagement.