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House Education debates BOCES, mandatory districts and how to fund regionalization
Summary
Lawmakers and committee members discussed Act 73 implementation options on Feb. 17, focusing on BOCES/CSA regionalization, whether membership should be mandatory or voluntary, governance (administrative vs. board-led) and startup funding models including small grants and fee-for-service approaches.
Speaker 1 opened the Feb. 17 meeting by framing a package of changes under Act 73 intended to reduce cost and increase regional services, saying the plan was offered to "answer some questions" and to present an approach for discussion.
The committee spent the largest portion of its time debating whether regional structures ought to be mandatory or voluntary. "And just my opinion, it would have to be mandatory," said Speaker 2, arguing that compulsory membership would be necessary to achieve the efficiencies proponents expect. Speaker 1 agreed the package was premised on larger, consolidated districts and noted that "school boards need to be in charge of where kids go to school," explaining why the…
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