By being part of the cooperative making up the Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, Waterville Central School Districts pays for programs it uses and shares the cost for expenses others use.
OHM BOCES Superintendent Patricia Kilburn and assistant superintendents Scott Morris and Christopher Hill attended last week’s WCS Board of Education meeting.
At previous WCS meetings Board members and Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Spring raised the issue of whether Waterville was due more revenue for renting classrooms to BOCES.
OHM BOCES has 12 districts, Kilburn said, including Clinton, Brookfield, Utica and Remsen.
Kilburn and a Cooperative Board of one person from each school district oversee the BOCES functions.
Waterville’s epresentative is former Board member Russell Stewart.
Kilburn said about 22,500 students attend the 12 schools.
BOCES focuses on two goals, she said.
One is post-high school outcomes. This includes career and college.
The goal is to have all students graduate having done career exploration and earned college credits, she said.
The second goal is student health and well being, an issue that has doubled since the pandemic, Kilburn said.
Students are taught behavior and coping skills for in and out of the classroom.
Morris explained the BOCES budget.
He said $4.2 million makes up the administrative side of BOCES.
That cost is shared by the 12 districts based on student enrollment, Kilburn said. BOCES does not have independent revenue sources.
BOCES rents classrooms in some of its districts to run programs outside of its other buildings.
Waterville rents nine classrooms to BOCES this year for $3,200 per room.
That rental cost, as well as the rents in other districts, is paid for by the 12 districts. Kilburn said that means Waterville is both receiving rent and paying a portion of it.
The Utica District pays 43 percent as the highest and Brookfield, the lowest, pays under 1 percent.
Kilburn said BOCES also pays ancillary fees to use office space and other amenities.
Waterville has the second- largest space rented to BOCES behind the Whitesboro District.
Fifty-one students attend classes in the nine rented programs.
While the BOCES administrators said they are using seven of the nine rooms this year, Spring said all nine rooms were taken by BOCES and unable to be used at Memorial Park, where space is needed.
Because Spring brought the matter to the committee of the 12 superintendents who meet with BOCES, Kilburn said BOCES would look at the rental program to see if resetting the rate should occur.
The rate ...
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