Scarsdale School District Alters Budget Information Meetings

Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Hagerman emailed the following letter to residents explaining the need to change this year’s budget planning meetings.

The alterations are due to information from the state not being available in a timely fashion. So village education officials are shifting the meetings to February:

Dear Parents and Community Members:

For the past several years, the District has held community budget forums in January in order to present preliminary information on budget planning, and to hear community responses and reflections concerning that information.

This year, however, a confluence of factors prevents us from gathering enough information on which to have a coherent conversation about the budget in time for these meetings. One of the most significant of these factors is that the December 31 federal CPI data, which have a direct impact on the State tax cap, will not be released until January 16. Then there will be a further delay while the State finalizes its decision on the appropriate number to include in the tax cap calculation. Preliminary information indicates that the CPI data may make it more difficult to stay under the cap, but we won’t know that with any certainty until we see the numbers.

In light of this situation, we need to alter our previously published meeting dates for this year. Please note the following revisions:

Wednesday, January 14, 7:30 p.m. - canceled.
Wednesday, January 21, 10 a.m. - canceled.

We invite the public to attend the Monday, January 12 Board of Education Work Session at 6:30 p.m., at which the Board will review factors affecting this year’s budget planning, and also to attend any or all of the four scheduled budget study sessions:

Monday, February 2, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 4, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, February 9, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 11, 6:30 p.m.

These meetings will also be broadcast live on the District cable TV station and streamed live over the District website.

The meetings will feature formal presentations with detailed information, and give the public the opportunity, following Board discussion, to express thoughts and questions. In addition, community members may send comments and questions to the Board of Education at 2 Brewster Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583, or via email at boardofed@scarsdaleschools.org.

In Service,

Dr. Thomas Hagerman