NORTH NORWICH – The school boards of each of the 16 districts that comprise the Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES will cast their vote for or against the cooperative education organization’s 2009-10 administrative budget tonight.
“A majority of the DCMO BOCES component school boards must vote ‘yes’ for the budget to pass,” said Assistant Superintendent for Management Services Doreen Rowe.
Totaling $2.19 million, the proposed budget includes a spending increase of 1.1 percent over the current year’s budget, according to the administrator.
Each component district pays its share of the budget, which is calculated based on a Resident Weighted Average Daily Attendance (RWADA), which measures the size of a district based on attendance. The impact of the administrative portion of the budget will range from a decrease of 4.76 percent to an increase of 5.92 percent from what districts paid last year, Rowe said.
“Overall, we held the numbers very tight,” Rowe reported. Measures were taken to lower supply and personnel expenses where possible to keep spending increases at a minimum. They were also able to adjust their health insurance so that, while it still increased, the change was not as significant as it might have been, she explained.
The DCMO BOCES administrative budget represents only 5.36 percent of the total proposed 2009-10 budget estimated at $40,948,448, is the only portion component districts will vote on tonight. Districts do not vote directly on the capital or program budgets.
The program budget is by far the largest piece of the pie, representing 83.687 percent of next year’s budget or $34,268,862. According to Rowe, it is made up of more than 80 individual program services budgets. Districts “vote,” she explained, “by signing up for the services.”
Rather than cutting this portion of the budget, BOCES Superintendent Bill Tammaro said he expects it to grow because of the economic woes faced by local school districts.
“We’re so service driven, it’s really what they are asking for,” Tammaro explained. He anticipates schools looking to take advantage of more and more of the cooperative services offered as they try to cut their district budgets.
Using cooperative services has an added benefit to component schools, as much of what they spend “is then given back to the schools as revenue in either a BOCES refund or in BOCES State Aid,” Rowe explained.
Central business office services, greater use of the Print Shop, shared teaching positions and staff development opportunities are some of the areas which may be in higher demand in the coming year because of these cuts, Tammaro said.
To provide even better service to component districts, the DCMO BOCES superintendent said several new programs and services will be rolled out in the coming year. These new offerings are in response to district requests, Tammaro explained. They include document shredding and yearbook printing, which he said is “always a category where districts run in the red.”
They are also looking further down the road at new courses, including welding, a New Visions program in animal science and exploring wind or green energy.
‘Whatever the need, we see if we can make it work,” Tammaro said.
The final portion of the budget is the capital budget, proposed at $4,484,922 or 10.953 of the total for the coming year. While there is no direct on this annual budget, Tammaro assured that districts do have a say since they vote for each new capital improvement project.
The last project approved was the multi-million dollar renovation of both of the DCMO BOCES districts instructional campuses which began in 2007. According to Rowe, construction at both locations will be completed by the end of the 2009-10 school year.