Editorial: Schools should learn from BOCES
Cutting state mandates in the areas of collective bargaining and special education would help schools deliver more bang for the buck, E.J. McMahon argues. Credit: iStock Photo
Financially strapped school districts should be looking to BOCES more and more to help them save money, streamline operations and improve educational offerings. But while Nassau BOCES, for example, has made a start of consolidating some back office and purchasing services, too few districts participate in the projects that would increase their efficiency by banding them together.
That's not to say there haven't been successes, and progress. Nassau BOCES received a $1 million grant two years ago to look for efficiencies that could be created by working together to provide services like out-of-district transportation, information technology and internal auditing. So far, $3.5 million in recurring annual savings have been found, and only $600,000 of the million has been spent.
Officials say districts are getting better about joining in on shared services, as long as they don't lose identity, local jobs or local accountability. But districts are often balking when they feel jobs will be lost, even if the move would create savings.
Even more challenging is getting districts to participate in BOCES schools, which can provide unique educational experiences -- like a school for the performing arts or one for kids in danger of dropping out -- but charge tuition to attendees' home districts. Nassau BOCES charges around $12,000 per year for each student at these schools, and fewer and fewer districts are participating. It's understandable that administrators want to keep that money in their districts, but that often isn't the best answer for the student, and either underserves the child or creates more costs to provide the needed instruction.
Districts also fail, at times, to support programs like a performing arts school because they pull talented and hardworking students out of the district population, and out of their standardized test pools. But getting students focused educations that deploy resources efficiently ought to be the priority that matters.
Thanks to a challenged state budget that's not going to get opulent any time soon and the property tax cap, schools face financial hardships. When administrators try to put together their budgets, any money going to Board of Cooperative Educational Services programs can look like easy cuts. This is especially true in the first two years of some municipal shared-services initiatives, when all the investment in the programs must be made and the savings aren't yet being realized. After all, who wants to send money away when things get tight?
But as finances get worse, parents, sick of schools threatening to cut sports, gifted and talented programs and band, will look harder at administrative costs. These should be available in detail on district websites. This tells taxpayers who is trying to save and who isn't.
Some may complain that shared services are the first step to district consolidations and school closings. But the alternative is either more restrictions from Albany on noninstructional costs, or programs cut.
School populations are shrinking and health care and pension costs are skyrocketing, but these are reasons districts need to empower BOCES to do more. It may be the only way we can get by on less.
