District staff told the Board of Education that an increase in the district's OC/BOCES bill this year is primarily tied to higher-cost special-education placements and not a general across-the-board spending surge. At the meeting, staff said the OC/BOCES package shows a year-over-year difference of $93,630, driven by an estimated $342,000 increase for mandated special-education placements and offset by $248,000 in reductions across other services.

The figures were presented by a district staff member who described the budget review as a “rigorous six-week review process” in which administrators examined every line of the letter of intent. The staff member said the $342,000 increase is “an estimate” tied to higher-cost special-education placements. They also said the career-and-technical-education line appears to jump from about $376,000 to $690,000 because OC/BOCES changed how it aggregates bills; on an apples-to-apples basis that program increased by roughly $26,000.

Why it matters: special-education costs can move rapidly because individual placements and services for students with high needs are expensive and often determined case-by-case. At the meeting staff explained that the state’s special-education reimbursement process (the locally often-cited “Seneca Falls rate” was referenced in discussion) limits the district’s responsibility to a published threshold each year; costs above that threshold are eligible for state excess-cost aid.

District staff discussed two options for providing mandated health and welfare services in private/parochial placements: the district can place its own nurse in the private school or allow OC/BOCES to staff the service and bill districts pro rata for students placed there. The staff presentation explained that OC/BOCES bills participating districts for their share of OC-employed staff assigned to private schools and similar placements.

Board members asked several operational questions about how enrollment snapshots and software licensing counts affect BOCES billing. Staff explained that BOCES often uses the state’s October “snapshot” of student counts when determining charges for certain services; if the snapshot date precedes later enrollment changes, billing is based on the snapshot figure. Staff also said professional development charges and many software subscriptions are billed on actual usage or counts and are reviewed annually.

No formal action was taken on the OC/BOCES agreement during this agenda item; the presentation was informational. Board members asked for additional transparency and more detailed documentation for the budget season, and staff said they will provide further detail when the district prepares the full budget.

For the record: the presentation included the net numbers (net change $93,630; estimated increase $342,000 for special-education placements; offsetting reductions of $248,000; apples-to-apples CTE increase ~$26,000). Staff characterized several numbers as estimates and said state aid formulas and enrollment snapshots affect the district’s net financial position.