District overview
Chappaqua Central School District
How Chappaqua's schools are paid for, who decides, and what is being built
How is Chappaqua paid for, and who gets to say yes?
Chappaqua is a New York central school district covering parts of the towns of New Castle and Mount Pleasant in Westchester County. It runs six schools for about 3,528 students: three elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school, Horace Greeley. Nearly all of its money comes from local property taxes rather than from the state: of the $150,125,516 budget for 2026-27, $128,280,312 is raised by the tax levy. That matters because of how New York works. The district cannot simply set the levy it wants. State law calculates a tax-levy limit for each district each year, and a budget whose levy stays at or under that limit passes with a simple majority of voters, while a levy above it needs 60%. So every spring the district builds a budget, publishes a property tax report card showing where its levy sits against the limit, and puts the whole thing to a public vote on the third Tuesday in May. In 2026 that vote was May 19, the levy came in $1,146,540 under the limit, and the budget passed 693 to 213. Five elected residents, serving staggered three-year terms, make the decisions in between.
Voters, not just the board, approve the budget
New York holds school districts to an annual public referendum. On May 19, 2026 Chappaqua voters approved a $150,125,516 budget for 2026-27 and a separate $1,078,264 capital reserve proposition, and elected two board members. If the budget had failed the district would have had to run on a $146,395,303 contingency budget, cutting $3,730,213 starting with student supplies, equipment, field trips, athletics, buildings and grounds, and staffing.
The tax cap sets the real ceiling
The 2026-27 levy of $128,280,312 is 2.99% above the year before and sits $1,146,540 below the district's calculated levy limit, so a simple majority was enough. Going above the limit would have required 60% approval. One input to that limit is how many students the district has, which is why falling enrolment tightens the district's room to raise money.
Five at-large seats, three-year terms, decided in May
The board has five members elected at large by the whole district, each for three years, with roughly two seats up each May. In 2026 two candidates stood for two seats, so both were elected unopposed. Officers are chosen each July: Alissa Dorfman became president and Allison Steinbauer vice president at the July 6, 2026 reorganisation meeting. A Horace Greeley student also sits on the board as a non-voting ex officio member.
Day-to-day spending splits three ways
The adopted 2026-27 budget divides into a $111,977,373 programme component, a $24,449,136 capital component and a $13,699,007 administrative component. Six standing committees - Audit, Communications, Facilities, Health & Safety, Policy and Wellness - do the detailed work, and the board approved written charges for all six on November 10, 2025.
None of this suggests the district is in financial trouble. New York's own fiscal stress monitoring system scored Chappaqua 0 out of 100 for fiscal stress on its 2025 list, with no designation for either fiscal or environmental stress, and the district's outside auditor found no material weaknesses in internal control for the year ended June 30, 2025. The pressures visible in the record are about shrinking enrolment and ageing buildings, not solvency.
Where the district stands
Up $5,733,491, or 3.97%, from the $144,392,025 adopted for 2025-26.
Up $3,730,213, or 2.99%, from $124,550,099. The board executed the tax warrant for this amount on August 5, 2026, plus $3,836,142 for the public library.
A positive figure means the levy is under the limit and a simple majority approves it. A negative figure would have required 60% voter approval.
Down from 3,574 in 2025-26, a fall of 1.29%. Elementary rises from 1,325 to 1,338, middle schools hold at 1,100, out-of-district placements stay at 29.
Down from 1,119 in 2025-26 and from 1,340 in 2016-17. The twelfth grade falls from 324 students to 241.
The teaching and student-services share, up from $108,191,871. Capital is $24,449,136 and administration $13,699,007.
Up from $12,223,116 in 2025-26. Separately, appropriated fund balance used to hold the levy down falls from $2,500,000 to $2,300,000.
The district moved its board records to a new portal on July 1, 2026. Agendas for all seven meetings since are posted; no minutes for any of them are. For the 28 meetings before that date, minutes are published for all 28.
Every regular meeting is livestreamed and posted to the district's YouTube channel; the eight dates without a recording are short work sessions and special meetings. Recordings are also carried by the New Castle Community Media Center.
Context, not a reported figure: the $150,125,516 budget divided by the 3,528 students the district projects. It covers everything the district spends, including transport, benefits, buildings and central administration, so it is not comparable to a school-level allocation. District officials described per-student spending as about $40,000 at the March 18, 2026 meeting.
Context from outside the district's own records. A score of 0 is the lowest possible. The state classified Chappaqua as 'No Designation' for fiscal stress and 'No Designation' for environmental stress, with an environmental score of 5. The only Comptroller audit material the district publishes is a follow-up to a June 2010 report, so there is no recent state audit of Chappaqua.
Major projects
Horace Greeley High School athletics pavilion and Seven Bridges athletic field
Under constructionThe largest building job in the district's current districtwide capital improvement programme. Lindi Construction is the general contractor on the pavilion itself, with Allstate Electrical Group on the electrical work; Cirone Construction is doing the linked reconstruction of the Seven Bridges Middle School athletic field. The board approves change orders meeting by meeting, and those visible between October 2025 and September 2026 run to roughly $330,000 net, for excavating discovered rock, supplemental steel, regrading, water and sanitary sewer piping, and taller fencing. The board has not published a total project cost or a completion date.
- Change order GC-003, $17,365, to modify the existing roof edge and add steel
- Change orders GC-04, GC-05 and GC-06, including $21,509.17 to excavate 42.6 cubic yards of discovered rock
- Five further change orders including regrading and electrical conduit replacement
- Seven Bridges field change orders SW-1 and SW-2 totalling $147,832.40 for a modified scope and vinyl-coated fencing
- Change order GC-10, $57,528, to install water service and sanitary sewer piping
- Change order SW-3, $46,637.50, for extra rock and stone removal and higher fencing at the Seven Bridges athletic field
Funding
Districtwide capital improvement programme
No total project cost is published in the board's records; only individual change orders are.
High school and middle school HVAC upgrades
In progress, moving into commissioningA bond-funded replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning plant at Horace Greeley High School and the two middle schools, referred to in board papers as the HVAC capital bond project. Naber Electric Corp., Bertussi Contracting and ENL Mechanical have done electrical, steel and mechanical work; on September 15, 2026 the board approved an agreement with Johnson Controls for controls and balancing services, the step that tunes a new system once it is installed.
- Change orders EC-002-HS and EC-003-HS, $19,753.16, to relocate gym ceiling conduit and refurbish existing feeders
- Change order MS GC-004, $14,325.09, for supplemental steel at two energy recovery units
- Change order MC-01 to repair pavement damaged by the mechanical work
- Further change orders acknowledged for the districtwide HS and MS HVAC upgrades
- Johnson Controls agreement approved for controls and balancing
Funding
Voter-approved capital bond
The board's records name it the HVAC capital bond project but do not restate the bond amount.
Bell auditorium air conditioning, Roaring Brook fencing and districtwide PA systems
Approved by voters and funded, work not yet reported completeThree smaller jobs bundled into one ballot proposition in May 2026: facilities upgrades and air conditioning in the Robert E. Bell Middle School auditorium, perimeter fencing at Roaring Brook Elementary School, and replacing public address systems across the district. Voters approved spending up to $1,078,264 from the district's 2018 capital reserve fund, 795 to 102. Because the money comes from a reserve already set aside, the ballot stated that no budget increase was called for and nothing was added to the tax levy.
- Board adopts a SEQRA Type II negative declaration and puts the proposition on the ballot
- Voters approve the proposition 795 to 102
- Board appropriates $1,078,264 from the capital reserve fund to the capital fund
Funding
Capital Reserve Fund 2018
Maximum estimated cost; adds nothing to the budget or the tax levy.
Sale of the 20.36-acre Buttonhook Property
Under contract, two addenda signedThe district is selling 20.36 acres it owns, known as the Buttonhook Property, as part of settling two court cases: CG Homes Six LLC against the district and Friends of Buttonhook Forest against the Town of New Castle Planning Board. The board authorised the revised settlement and the revised contract of sale together in a single resolution on October 29, 2025, and has signed two addenda since. The settlement agreement and both addenda were incorporated into the minutes by reference rather than published, so the price and the terms are not on the public record.
- Board authorises the revised settlement agreement and revised contract of sale, 5-0
- Board authorises an addendum to the contract of sale dated June 17, 2026
- Board authorises a second addendum dated June 24, 2026
Funding
Not applicable - this is a disposal of district land, not a purchase
No sale price appears in any published board record.
Universal pre-kindergarten expansion
Awarded and running for 2026-27Chappaqua runs free universal pre-kindergarten through an outside provider. For 2026-27 the board awarded the programme to Healthy Kids Programs for $583,200 and then added a second award of $194,000 for two more classrooms, $777,200 in total. Widening access to pre-kindergarten is one of four things the district told voters the 2026-27 budget would pay for. Places are allocated by lottery rather than by the school a family is zoned for.
- Budget preview discusses adding classrooms and the limits of the lottery
- Board awards RFP #2026-03 at $583,200 and RFP #2026-04 for two additional classrooms at $194,000
Funding
2026-27 operating budget
Two awards to the same provider for the 2026-27 school year.
Middle school world language redesign
Plan presented, fourth course still undecidedEvery Chappaqua elementary pupil now learns Spanish, which has forced a rethink of what happens next. Under the plan the administration presented in January 2026, current fifth graders carry on in Spanish instead of choosing a language in fourth grade, sixth graders get an exploratory course, and the district spends 2026-27 deciding what the fourth language course will be. Spanish, French and Latin are taught in the middle schools now; Mandarin is not, so students wanting it switch in ninth grade. Board members raised falling high school enrolment in Mandarin and Latin and what that means for the tenured teachers who teach them. This is the administration's plan rather than a board vote, and the public record of it is the meeting recording rather than the minutes.
- Strategic plan update sets out the world language committee's findings and the implementation plan
- Board members question falling Mandarin and Latin enrolment and the position of tenured language teachers
- Further strategic plan update to the board
Funding
2026-27 operating budget
No separate cost for the redesign appears in the published record.
Finding the next Horace Greeley High School principal
Retirement announced, no successor or search namedSandra Sepe, principal of Horace Greeley High School, has given notice of a resignation for the purpose of retirement effective September 1, 2027. Horace Greeley is the district's only high school, so this is the single most consequential staffing change on the record. Nothing published so far names a successor, an interim, a search firm or a process for involving families.
- Board agenda records the resignation for the purpose of retirement, effective September 1, 2027
Funding
Existing administrative staffing in the operating budget
No search or recruitment cost appears in the published record.
Douglas Grafflin Elementary School roof replacement
ApprovedThe board approved two roofing proposals from General Maintenance Group, both dated February 4, 2026: $184,250 to replace the roof over the Upper Center and hallway at Douglas Grafflin Elementary School, and $278,050 to remove and replace the roof on the school's Middle Building. Together that is $462,300 on one building's roofs.
- Board awards districtwide roofing maintenance and service to General Maintenance Group for $76,000 plus various rates
- Board approves both Grafflin roof proposals, $184,250 and $278,050
Funding
Operating and capital budgets
Two separate proposals for the same school, approved together.
Recent news
Built from the district's own published records for the twelve months from October 1, 2025 to October 1, 2026: 110 documents in all. Board records come from two places because the district changed systems on July 1, 2026. Meetings up to June 29, 2026 are on the district's own agendas-and-minutes archive, which carries the full text of each agenda and of the official minutes. Meetings from July 6, 2026 onward are on the district's Diligent Community board portal, which publishes each agenda but, so far, no minutes. Where the written record is thin, the district's own YouTube recordings fill the gap: 28 machine transcripts of the district's livestreams were read alongside the agendas. Budget figures come from the adopted 2026-27 budget book and the budget newsletter, which contains the statutory property tax report card. Audit figures come from the district's audits page. Statements drawn from automatic captions rather than minutes are labelled as such wherever they appear.
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