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BOCES for school and district leaders

A practical map of what BOCES can do for a district office: shared services and aid, cooperative purchasing, technology, data privacy, personnel and safety.

General information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Procurement and aid rules are detailed and change. Confirm with your school attorney, your business official, your BOCES and NYSED or the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC).

New: How BOCES works in 3D (model, motion explainer, made-up money examples, quiz) and, for BOCES and RIC reviewers, Evaluate Goal100 yourself (sample lessons, privacy and NIST CSF status, accessibility, interoperability roadmap, pilot plan).

CoSers and BOCES aid: the rules that matter

Rule	What NYSED says
What a CoSer is	"The formal document through which a BOCES requests approval of the Commissioner of Education to operate a service."
Sharing	"The program must be shared by two or more districts or a district and BOCES."
60 percent	"A single district is limited to aid on three-fifths (60 percent) of a person's time." Circumstances may be reviewed case by case.
Approval term	"Each service is approved for one year only." An unapproved service is not aidable.
Three classes	Instructional (for example Career and Technical Education, Special Education, General Education), instructional support, and non-instructional.
Timing	"BOCES Aid is claimed as a reimbursement in the year after the service is delivered."
Formula	Aid returned to a district uses a formula that "takes into account the districts' financial resources."
Unspent money	Money not spent in a CoSer service is returned to the district at the end of each fiscal year.
RIC services	CoSers for computer services from RICs must comply with the regional "793 Plan."

Each BOCES publishes a services guide (for example Eastern Suffolk BOCES "Shared Services Guides"). Use it to compare what you buy alone with what you could share.

Shared service cost calculator

Example with made-up numbers. Real BOCES aid ratios come from the state formula; ask your business office. Runs only in your browser.

CoSer cost this year ($) Pretend aid ratio: 0.45 Cost to do it alone ($, no BOCES aid)

Example with made-up numbers

CoSer cost: $120,000 Aid next year: 120,000 × 0.45 = $54,000 Net CoSer cost: 120,000 − 54,000 = $66,000 Doing it alone: $95,000 Difference: 95,000 − 66,000 = $29,000 less with the CoSer

Remember cash flow: the district pays the full CoSer cost this year and gets the aid the next year.

Cooperative purchasing and bids

Bidding thresholds. OSC training on General Municipal Law (GML) §103 lists competitive bidding for purchase contracts in excess of $20,000 and public work contracts in excess of $35,000.
BOCES cooperative bids. NYSED explains that GML §119-o lets school districts and BOCES make agreements among themselves, and a BOCES "can act as the coordinating agent." Each participating board must approve the agreement and awards its own portion of the bid.
State contracts. Districts can buy from New York State (OGS) contracts. OSC notes the contract must have the same terms and conditions as the State OGS contract.
Piggybacking (GML §103(16)). OSC's 2024 training lists conditions: the contract was let by a qualifying government entity, made available for use by others, and let to the lowest responsible bidder or on best value consistent with §103. An older NYSED purchasing page still says districts may not piggyback; ask your attorney which applies to your purchase.
Written procurement policy. GML §104-b requires written policies for purchases that are not subject to competitive bidding.

Examples: Eastern Suffolk BOCES Cooperative Bidding (bid calendar, bid categories, participating members, bidding process); Western Suffolk BOCES links vendors to the Empire State Bid System; Nassau BOCES Business Services includes cooperative bidding.

Shared technology (RICs)

The 12 RICs give districts administrative systems, student data services and network support. Eastern Suffolk BOCES's Regional Information Center, for example, lists financial systems, student data services, network infrastructure and security, internet service, backup, learning management systems, emergency notification, visitor management, VADIR and DASA reporting, language translation and a Chapter 793 Plan (2026-2031). Find your RIC

Education Law 2-d and vendor agreements

Your duties. NYSED's parent fact sheet: educational agencies (schools, districts and BOCES) must publish a parents' bill of rights on their website and appoint a Data Protection Officer.
Statewide agreements. NYSSBA reported (June 2024) that NYSED bought a statewide membership in the Access 4 Learning Student Data Privacy Consortium, so districts can use a standardized data privacy agreement structure. The 12 RICs help districts register, upload existing agreements and ask for agreements with vendors not yet listed.
RIC services. Many RICs sell data privacy help; for example Eastern Suffolk BOCES lists a District DPO Support Service and Data Privacy, Cybersecurity & Governance Services.
Model forms. NYSED posts model forms and policies. NYSED model forms

Business, personnel and safety services

Named on the Eastern Suffolk BOCES site (other BOCES offer similar lists; check yours):

Business office

Cooperative Bidding
Transportation services
Grants Management
Communications and PR, graphics, printing
Auction Services
Nonpublic School Textbook Program

People and safety

District Personnel Services and recruitment
Substitute Services
Negotiations Information Service (labor relations)
Leadership Development & Placement Service
Regional Occupational Safety & Health (ROSH)
Employee Assistance Program

Insurance and health benefit consortiums, workers' compensation pools and claims services vary by region. Ask your BOCES business office what it runs or coordinates.

Leader checklist

We reviewed this year's BOCES services guide and our current CoSers.
Our business office estimated next year's BOCES aid for each CoSer.
We checked cooperative bid awards before going out to bid alone.
Our attorney confirmed the legal basis for any piggyback purchase.
Every vendor with student data has a signed Ed Law 2-d agreement and posted supplemental information.
We know our RIC contact and our Data Protection Officer.
We decided on CoSer requests in time for the spring deadline.

Checkmarks stay only on this device.

Sources

If this page and an official page disagree, the official page or your attorney wins.

NYSED, BOCES Handbook 1 (sharing, 60 percent, three classes, aid the year after, 793 Plan): BOCES-Handbook-1-2022.pdf and Handbook1.htm (checked Nov 8, 2026)
NYSED, BOCES service delivery (decisions in April, unapproved not aidable): servicedelivery.html; BOCES primer (formula, unspent CoSer money): primer.html (checked Nov 8, 2026)
NYSED, Cooperative Purchasing (GML §119-o, BOCES as coordinating agent, piggybacking statement): coopurch.htm (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Office of the State Comptroller, Seeking Competition in Procurement (June 2024; GML §103 thresholds, §103(16), §104, §104-b): osc.ny.gov (PDF) (checked Nov 8, 2026)
NYSED, Ed Law 2-d fact sheet for parents: fact-sheet-for-parents.pdf; NYSED model forms and policies: nysed.gov (checked Nov 8, 2026)
NYSSBA, "Schools in NYS have a new way to protect student data privacy" (June 28, 2024): nyssba.org (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Eastern Suffolk BOCES programs and services (cooperative bidding, RIC, HR, ROSH, shared services guides): esboces.org/programs-services; Western Suffolk BOCES: wsboces.org; Nassau BOCES: nassauboces.org (checked Nov 8, 2026)