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Regionalization

Regionalization

Description

A systematic approach to continually improve schools and districts is essential for supporting successful outcomes for our students. Regionalization is a mechanism for achieving this goal. This collaborative model provides a strategic solution to increasing educational opportunities for students and responding to pressing academic and operational issues in an evolving educational, demographic, and fiscal landscape.

Regionalization refers to a broad tool for addressing student needs and operational efficiencies through shared resources, grounded in a process of continuous needs assessment and cross-district coordination. New York State’s educational landscape already features many examples of partnerships across schools and districts as well as existing regionalization infrastructure, such as cross-district contracts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to creating opportunities for students. The resulting outcomes and action items from regionalization will vary from region to region, building upon the strengths inherent in local communities and reflecting innovative ideas from the individuals who live in them.

Definition of Regions

Regionalization conversations are facilitated through the state's 37 Sole Supervisory Districts and the District Superintendent that leads each one. They are commonly referred to as the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) regions as each Sole Supervisory District houses a regional BOCES that provides cooperative educational programs for two or more school districts.

Collaborative Partners

Regionalization conversations will mainly take place between the components districts of a Sole Supervisory District in collaboration with the District Superintendent. However, regional conversations and partnerships will also include collaboration with schools, neighboring districts in other Sole Supervisory Districts, and community stakeholders including, but not limited to, business and industry groups, collective bargaining units, institutions of higher education, parents/caregivers, and neighboring Indigenous Nations. Non-component districts, such as the Big Five school districts, will also be invited to the conversations.

Purpose of Regionalization

Many schools and districts are facing seemingly insurmountable and intractable challenges in areas such as teacher recruitment, advanced course offerings, and funding/aid. Not all schools and districts across the state face equal or similar hardships, and many contributing factors are outside the control of local school districts and the Department.  

Enduring solutions to district challenges must be developed and implemented locally through shared resources and support. The lack of student opportunities and fiscal concerns across the state will continue until districts start considering regional solutions to their academic and operational issues. The time to act is now, while districts have time to think through regional issues from areas of strength, rather than waiting until they are facing moments of greater crisis.

Together, we aim to move from a system that promotes siloed, limited opportunities for some students to a mutually beneficial model where districts within and across regions partner to deliver life-changing experiences for students and to solve local challenges through local solutions. Collaboration and partnership are central to regionalization and are necessary to close the opportunity and transcript gap* in all historically underserved communities across New York State.

The purpose of requiring statewide regionalization planning is to provide an equitable structure for districts to compile, discuss, and analyze data on educational opportunity and supports available in their region for all of their students, in order to inventory areas of strength, gaps that may exist, and support needs for fulfilling local visions for education and schooling, consistent with Board of Regents priorities and commitments.  

* The “transcript gap” refers to disparities in the high school coursework and access to high-quality, cohesive college- and career-preparatory curriculum among students attending different schools and districts, as evidenced by the information reported on their high school transcript. For research around this phenomenon, see The Education Trust’s 2016 publication “Meandering Toward Graduation: Transcript Outcomes of High School Graduates” and the results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) high school transcript study. 

Goals of Regionalization

Regionalization seeks to leverage the collective strength and capacity of the state to identify current and innovative ways to address challenges and mitigate their impact on student trajectories and outcomes. The goals of regionalization are: 

  • To implement a collaborative model for schools and districts to identify, explore, and pursue a variety of possible solutions to the academic and operational challenges they face by tapping into the full span of capabilities that already exist in their larger region; and  
  • To establish a continuous improvement process for schools and districts to review, reflect, and update regionalization data and plans on a 10-year cycle. 

Data show that inequities in access to and the provision of educational opportunities, resources, services, and supports exist across the state of New York.* The regionalization process aims to expand the benefits of shared services and programming that have proven effective with the BOCES model** by exploring how local schools and districts can employ similar collaborative approaches to increase their own educational offerings and operational efficiencies.

* See the New York Equity Coalition’s March 2023 report on access to advanced coursework and School Funding Transparency Tool for comparative data on K-12 funding across New York State. For further research, see this March 2023 report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller on how the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) underscores New York’s need for academic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this 2017 Cornell Policy Review analyzes geographic funding and achievement gaps in New York State, and this 2015 advocacy publication from the Alliance for Quality Education illustrates New York State’s widening opportunity gap. 

** New York State completed a physical process of regionalization (i.e., the process of dividing the state into distinct regions with physical boundaries) with the creation of Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in 1948,  providing shared educational programs and services to school districts within the state.  

Benefits of Regionalization

Regionalization is about reimagining the collective responsibility and capacity of New York’s districts in ensuring equitable access and opportunity for all New York students. Collaboration and partnerships are essential for creating student opportunities across all schools, districts, regions, and communities throughout the state. Through harnessing the collective strengths of districts, all students can benefit from a rich and varied educational experience.

All districts can benefit from regionalization efforts. Benefits include:

  • Creating equitable opportunities for ALL students;
  • Establishing a systematic mechanism for districts to engage in continual improvement; and
  • Developing a model for addressing ongoing educational and fiscal challenges.

Expanding opportunities is not limited to filling gaps in areas of need. Rather, the goal is to optimize experiences available for our students. Every school has something of value to gain and to contribute to the regionalization conversations and planning because every school is unique, and every school is limited in the opportunities it can provide to its students in some way—whether due to funding, location, partnerships, scheduling, or other realities of place, time, and access. 

Moreover, New York’s student body is ever-changing. No school or district is immune to receiving new students or experiencing shifts among their student populations—whether on a small scale as students transfer schools one-by-one, or in larger influxes of new populations. Receiving schools and schools with declining enrollment each face a variety of challenges as students move around, creating a shared responsibility for our students’ experiences in school. * 

* Read more about some consequences of student mobility, for mobile and non-mobile students, in this 2015 policy brief from the National Education Policy Center. 

Regionalization versus Reorganization

Regionalization is not reorganization (e.g., mergers, consolidation, annexation). While regionalization is distinct from reorganization, some districts may choose to reorganize in response to their local situation. For example, during conversations between districts, they may decide that reorganization is the best option for improving student opportunities and operational needs within their region. This slide deck provides an overview of reorganization.

Regionalization enables districts to solve local challenges through local solutions.  They can collaborate in a multitude of ways to share the responsibility for creating equitable educational opportunities for all students. The regionalization planning process provides the structure for districts to engage in conversations to identify current and innovative approaches for sharing resources.