Budget & Finance

2026-27 Proposed Budget

The total proposed budget for the 2026-27 school year is $39,954,420. This number is preliminary. A BOCES budget changes regularly throughout the school year as component districts continually requests additional services.

Back to top

Understanding the Components of a BOCES Budget

A BOCES budget is divided into three primary areas: administrative, program, and capital costs. As required by educational law, component school districts collectively fund the administrative and capital budgets, while program costs are determined by district participation.

The administrative and capital budgets cover essential operational expenses. The administrative budget includes personnel, human resources, the business office, and retiree health insurance, which state law mandates be funded through this budget. The capital budget accounts for facility rentals and capital expenses to maintain BOCES facilities. These costs are allocated to districts based on the Resident Weighted Average Daily Attendance (RWADA) formula, ensuring each district contributes proportionally. In plain language, this means that districts pay proportionally based on their district enrollment.

The program budget supports more than 175 programs and services offered by FEH BOCES, as well as additional services from other BOCES that our Component Districts choose to purchase. Participation in these programs is entirely optional, and districts only pay for the services they select each year based on their unique needs.

Back to top

Refining our Administrative Budget

The BOCES administrative budget is governed by New York State law and is required to include specific categories of spending. It does not include the salaries and benefits of all BOCES administrators—only those whose roles support the overall operation of the organization. At FEH BOCES, most administrators are funded through program budgets based on district participation and are not part of the administrative budget.

The administrative budget includes required components such as:

• Expenses of the Board of Education
• Regional needs assessment and planning
• Central support for operations
• Travel, supplies, and District Superintendent’s office expenses
• A portion of the organization’s liability insurance
• Supplemental retirement costs, including retiree health insurance

For the 2026–27 budget year, FEH BOCES faced significant cost pressure driven primarily by health insurance. Health insurance accounts for nearly 70% of the administrative budget and increased by 22%. If all other expenses had remained unchanged, this increase alone would have resulted in an overall administrative budget increase of approximately 12–13%.

In response, we conducted a thorough review of every administrative budget line. Expenses were reduced wherever possible, and revenue opportunities were maximized to offset rising costs. As a result of these efforts, the overall administrative budget increase was limited to approximately 7.73%, despite the substantial rise in health insurance costs.

One example of these cost-saving measures includes reducing Revenue Anticipation Note (RAN) interest expenses from $100,000 to $0. This was achieved by implementing a new billing policy that includes a late fee for overdue payments, improving cash flow, and reducing borrowing needs.

These actions reflect FEH BOCES’ continued commitment to fiscal responsibility, carefully managing expenditures while maintaining compliance with New York State requirements and supporting the services our component districts rely on.

Back to top

Administrative Budget 4-Year Overview

Back to top

Employees in the Administrative Budget

Admin FTE = 1.2 Support FTE = 7.95
*All employees listed in the admin budget are full-time employees. Those listed as partial FTEs are shared with other program budgets.

Back to top

Capital Budget

The capital budget is part of the annual assessment our component districts pay to FEH BOCES, though it isn’t subject to a vote.

The proposed capital budget includes $400,000 for our capital reserve fund. Each year we’re not actively paying for a capital project, we save some money for future building repairs and updates.

FEH BOCES had put $300,000 into the capital reserve fund for many years. We increased that contribution to $400,000 a few years ago due to rising construction costs, and we will keep that number consistent for 2026-27.

Back to top