The Scarsdale Union Free School District serves the Village of Scarsdale and a small portion of the neighboring Town of Mamaroneck. A Scarsdale mailing address does not by itself place a home in the district. Parts of the Town of Greenburgh, including Edgemont, carry Scarsdale 10583 addresses and are served by the Edgemont Union Free School District, and other Scarsdale-address pockets fall in neighboring districts. The school district, not the ZIP code, determines both school assignment and which school tax appears on the bill.

The grade configuration is simple. Five neighborhood elementary schools serve kindergarten through grade 5, all of them feed Scarsdale Middle School for grades 6 through 8, and every student continues to Scarsdale High School for grades 9 through 12.

How the School Budget and School Tax Work

School tax is the largest part of most Scarsdale property tax bills. Each spring the Board of Education adopts a proposed budget, and district residents vote on it at the statewide school budget vote held on the third Tuesday in May. The approved tax levy is then spread across properties by assessed value. Eligible owner-occupants can reduce their school tax through New York’s STAR program, which new homeowners now generally receive as a credit from the state. Because the school tax follows the district line, confirm both the district and the current school tax on any home before making an offer.

This is the part of Scarsdale that surprises buyers coming from districts with school choice or magnet lotteries. In Scarsdale, your child’s elementary school is determined by your home address. The district has five elementary attendance zones, and each one is named for the neighborhood it serves: Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote, and Quaker Ridge.

Because assignment is address-based, choosing a neighborhood and choosing an elementary school are effectively the same decision. The district’s roughly 5,959 properties are divided among the five zones, each with its own housing character and price point. The district occasionally adjusts boundary lines to balance enrollment, with recent attention around the Fox Meadow and Greenacres border near Mamaroneck Road, so buyers should always verify the current assignment for a specific address rather than relying on a general map.

Elementary Schools Mapped to Neighborhoods

It is worth keeping the bigger picture in mind. All five elementary schools feed into the same single middle school and the same single high school. The zone determines which elementary school serves the home for kindergarten through grade 5, but every path leads to the same Scarsdale Middle School and Scarsdale High School.

Each Scarsdale elementary school anchors its neighborhood. They share a district philosophy and curriculum, but each has its own campus feel, parent community, and walkability. Here is a closer look at all five.

All five elementary schools follow the same district curriculum and feed the same middle and high school. For most buyers, the practical differences between zones are the housing stock, lot sizes, walkability, and commute.

After fifth grade, every Scarsdale student converges on a single path. There is one public middle school and one public high school in the village, which means the five elementary communities blend together as students grow up.

Scarsdale Middle School

Scarsdale Middle School serves grades 6 through 8 and is organized into smaller learning communities known as houses, a structure designed to keep the experience personal even as students from all five elementary schools come together. It bridges the neighborhood elementary years and the larger high school, with a strong emphasis on writing, inquiry, and the transition to independent work.

Scarsdale High School

Scarsdale High School serves grades 9 through 12 for every student in the district. It is best known for replacing Advanced Placement courses with its own Advanced Topics curriculum, and it offers athletics, the arts, and student-led clubs and publications alongside its academic program.

• Grades served: 9 through 12, one high school for the whole district
• Official data: School report card published by the New York State Education Department at data.nysed.gov
• Distinctive curriculum: Advanced Topics courses in place of AP at the most advanced levels
• Breadth: Comprehensive athletics, arts, and a wide range of extracurricular programs

One of the most distinctive and most discussed features of Scarsdale High School is that it does not offer Advanced Placement courses. Between 2007 and 2009, the high school transitioned away from the College Board’s standardized AP program and built its own Advanced Topics, or AT, courses in their place. This is a real difference that parents should understand, because it shapes how the curriculum works and how colleges read a Scarsdale transcript.

A natural worry for parents is whether skipping the AP label hurts in college admissions. The district’s position is that it does not. Colleges evaluate a transcript against the courses a given school actually offers. Courses designated as the most demanding at a school are read as such whether they are labeled AT or AP.

Families should still go in with clear eyes. Because AT courses do not culminate in a College Board exam, students who want AP exam scores for placement or credit at certain universities may choose to sit for relevant AP tests independently. This is a manageable consideration, not an obstacle, but it is worth discussing with the high school’s counseling office as a student plans coursework.

Parents often ask how the Advanced Topics model shows up in college applications. Colleges evaluate each transcript against the courses the high school actually offers, including the AT program.

The high school’s counseling and college office publishes the current school profile and can explain how students plan coursework, how AP exams can be taken independently, and how the application process works. District-level data, including graduation and postsecondary information, is published in the official NYSED report card at data.nysed.gov.

In addition to the public schools, Scarsdale residents have access to a deep bench of private and independent schools across Westchester and lower Fairfield County. Some families choose private for a particular philosophy, a religious foundation, a specialized program, or a specific learning fit.

Westchester County is home to more than a hundred private schools spanning every grade level and approach, from Montessori and bilingual programs to college-preparatory day schools and faith-based academies. Average private school tuition in Westchester runs higher than the statewide average, so families weighing the private route should budget accordingly.

Private school tuition is paid in addition to the school tax, which is owed on every Scarsdale property regardless of where a child attends school.

Which school district serves a Scarsdale address?

The Scarsdale Union Free School District serves the Village of Scarsdale and a small portion of the Town of Mamaroneck. A Scarsdale mailing address does not guarantee it: parts of Greenburgh, including Edgemont, use Scarsdale addresses and are served by other districts. Confirm the district for a specific address with the district office before contract.

How many elementary schools does Scarsdale have, and how are students assigned?

Scarsdale has five elementary schools: Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote, and Quaker Ridge. Each is named for the neighborhood it serves, and students are assigned by home address. Your child’s elementary school is determined by where you live, which is why neighborhood choice and school choice are essentially the same decision in Scarsdale.

Does the elementary school depend on which house I buy?

Yes. Because assignment is address-based and boundaries can run down the middle of a street and are reviewed periodically, the specific home you choose determines the elementary zone. Always confirm a property’s current attendance assignment with the district or your agent before making an offer.

Why does Scarsdale High School not offer AP courses?

Between 2007 and 2009, Scarsdale High School transitioned from Advanced Placement to its own Advanced Topics curriculum. AT courses are college-level classes designed by Scarsdale faculty that emphasize depth, independent work, and sustained inquiry rather than coverage tied to a national exam.

Does the absence of AP hurt college admissions?

The district’s position is that it does not. Colleges evaluate transcripts against the courses a school offers. The most demanding courses are read as such whether labeled AT or AP.

Where can I find official data on Scarsdale schools?

The New York State Education Department publishes report cards for the district and each school at data.nysed.gov. The district’s own website carries the budget, school calendar, and attendance-zone information, and the high school’s college office can provide its current school profile.

Do the five elementary schools follow the same curriculum?

Yes. All five follow the district curriculum and feed into the same single middle school and high school. The practical differences between zones are the neighborhoods themselves: housing stock, lot sizes, walkability to the village and station, and commute.

What private school options exist near Scarsdale?

Westchester offers more than a hundred private schools, from Montessori and bilingual programs to college-preparatory day schools and faith-based academies. Average tuition runs above the statewide average. Private tuition is paid in addition to the school tax owed on every Scarsdale property.