It's an all-too-familiar situation for those who are part of the state's 37 Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.

The executive budget released Jan. 22 included a BOCES aid package that would cut BOCES funding by $67 million below what component districts would otherwise receive under current law.

Testifying at a joint budget hearing this month before the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees, NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin said the cuts outlined in the budget proposal would have untold consequences.

"Without restorations, we may see students with disabilities, in need of specific programs, on waiting lists and the number of students able to pass Regents Exams through a BOCES integrated academic program severely hampered," Lubin testified.

Essentially, the budget would reduce state reimbursement for expenses that more than 700 component school districts have already incurred for shared BOCES programs and services.

Sharing through BOCES is an economical way for component school districts of all sizes to take advantage of programs and services that wouldn't be cost-effective or affordable for them individually.

Lubin's testimony came one month before NYSUT and local union activists from BOCES throughout the state join parents, students and district administrators in an annual BOCES Lobby Day March 4 at the state Capitol.

'A contradiction'

Kathy Taylor, who chairs NYSUT's BOCES Statewide Planning Committee, said it's a contradiction for the governor last year to challenge New York's schools to improve, then take away funding this year.

"We in BOCES across the state are meeting the challenges proposed by the governor," said Taylor, president of Ulster BOCES Teachers Organization. "Now it is up to the Legislature to meet the state's commitment to education by continuing funding, supporting education and our state's future — the children."

NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue, whose office oversees BOCES issues for the statewide union, agreed.

"This threatened loss of funding breaks a promise to our BOCES members and the students and communities they serve," Donahue said. "It threatens their ability to provide students the quality services they deserve in an environment that matches their needs."

In his testimony to state lawmakers, Lubin expressed confidence that legislators would — as they have in the past — restore the funding that was cut in the governor's proposed budget.

"I know that you understand the positive work done at BOCES and truly view them as part of the solution," Lubin testified.

— John Strachan