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About WSWHE BOCES » About WSWHE BOCES

About WSWHE BOCES

Mission

The mission of WSWHE BOCES is to provide future-focused programs and high-quality services designed to meet the needs of all students and to support all of our partners.

Vision

The vision of WSWHE BOCES is to be a trusted leader in education, workforce development and innovation.

WSWHE BOCES collaborates, connects, and creates in order to provide relevant programming and meaningful solutions in support of the whole student, our valued partners and all stakeholders.

What We Are

WSWHE BOCES serves 31 school districts in a five-county region. The Board of of Cooperative Educational Services, a governing board made up of representatives from component school districts, is responsible for the oversight of curricular, financial and other policy decisions. The chief executive officer of a BOCES is the District Superintendent who works closely with local school districts as a liaison/agent of the New York State Commissioner of Education. WSWHE BOCES is the second largest geographically of the 37 BOCES regions in New York State covering 2,686 square miles. It is also the 13th largest in terms of kindergarten through grade 12 enrollments in the participating component school districts. With 31 component districts, it is the fourth largest in the State, after three BOCES on Long Island and Westchester County.

What We Do

WSWHE BOCES provides educational services for students of all age levels and abilities. We recognize and encourage student success, and continue to increase collaboration and communication with component school districts.

What is a BOCES?

BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Educational Services. It is a public organization that was created by the New York State Legislature in 1948 to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts. Today, BOCES continues to partner with school districts to provide a broad range of services to help meet the evolving needs of learners of all ages.

BOCES services are created when two or more school districts decide they have similar needs that can be met by a shared program. BOCES helps school districts save money by providing opportunities to pool resources and share costs. Sharing is an economical way for districts to provide programs and services that they might not be able to afford otherwise. However, BOCES services are often customized, offering districts the flexibility to meet their individual needs. Except for an administrative charge that is based on each district's size, districts pay only for BOCES services they use. BOCES expenses are incorporated into each district's annual budget. State aid helps offset some of the expenses, while others are directly funded by the state or federal government. BOCES has no taxing authority.

Our History

The Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex Board of Cooperative Educational Services (WSWHE BOCES) has undergone several structural changes since its inception, aiming to better serve the educational needs of its component school districts.

In 1948, the New York State legislature created Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to provide shared educational programs and services to school districts around the state. Initially, separate BOCES entities served the regions of Saratoga-Warren and Washington-Hamilton-Essex counties. 
 
In 1993, these entities merged to form the WSWHE BOCES, combining resources to enhance educational services across the five counties. Redistricting occurs when there is a vacancy of the superintendent of a sole supervisory  district. At the time, the State Education Department (SED) cited the following five reasons for the merger:

  • An increase in the pupil and district base that will likely lead to opportunities to expand services at savings for all districts.
  • A likely reduction in administrative budget costs of approximately 10 to 16% based on projected budget savings for all districts in Saratoga-Warren and Washington-Warren-Hamilton-Essex districts.
  • A likely expansion of Career and Technical Education (CTE), special education, adult education, business training, alternative education, gifted and talented programs.
  • An expansion of programs to support implementation of “ A New Compact For Learning,” such as staff development and curriculum development.
  • An increase of non-instructional services (transportation, administrative, facilities, health and safety) to support sharing and efficiency among many small component districts.
 
As a result of the merger, to better balance the number of students in each supervisory district, it was further determined that the Shenendehowa Central School District would become part of the Albany-Schoharie-Schenectady BOCES (now called Capital Region BOCES). 
 
Prior to the 1993 merger, several other studies explored other possibilities for how the entity would be organized. In 1987 SED explored merging the Saratoga-Warren BOCES with the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Supervisory District. The current formation was also proposed in a 1989 study, but was rejected at that time. 
 
Various buildings housed WSWHE BOCES programs over the years. WSWHE BOCES has two main instructional centers, the Southern Adirondack Education in Hudson Falls, built in 1972 and the F. Donald Myers Education Center in Saratoga Springs, built in 1970. Additionally, WSWHE BOCES leases instructional space at 10 Sanford Street from the Glens Falls City School District for its K-6 Sanford Teaching and Learning Center.