NYSED Regionalization Initiative goes public, officials respond to community concerns

The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Regionalization Initiative has been a major topic of conversation among local school districts and residents across the state since its rollout began this fall. The initiative is explained by NYSED officials as a local conversation facilitated by district superintendents of regional BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) organizations. It’s a collaborative model, the education department has stated, developed in response to declining enrollment in school districts, fears of loss in state aid, and expedited timelines put in place by Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York Legislature. The NYSED, which works independently of the governor’s office, developed this plan to address educational inequities in local districts, especially for students who would be most impacted by reductions in state aid. 

As part of the regionalization initiative, local superintendents will provide information and engage in conversations with regional district superintendents in order to pinpoint the strengths and gaps that exist in each region’s school districts. Those findings will be reported to NYSED Commissioner Dr. Betty Rosa, who will use the information to determine advocacy priorities related to state aid. Local school districts will also be incentivized to collaborate with one another and, if desired, share information or resources to allow for greater equity in education across the state. 

NYSED webinar for Long Island school boards
A 90-minute webinar held by leaders from NYSED entitled “Regionalization: What Board Members Need to Know” took place on October 29. A presentation was first made by NYSED officials and questions were later asked by Robert Vecchio, the executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
Dr. Jeffrey Matteson, NYSED senior deputy commissioner, and David Frank, NYSED assistant commissioner and chief of staff, began the webinar (the 34th presentation they’ve made on the topic since April) with an explanation of the regionalization initiative, later addressing misinformation they say has been circulating within local district communities since the plan went public. 

Matteson explained the challenges being faced by local school districts across the state, including student access to high-quality educational opportunities, fiscal constraints on local school districts and graduation measure incentives proposed by the Blue Ribbon Commission, allowing for more paths to graduation for high school students. 

Some students in New York districts are graduating with “transcript gaps” because their local districts aren't able to offer the same quality of education as other districts, Matteson said. Exploring ways to fill in those gaps is a major focus of the initiative. 

The impetus of the regionalization conversation began last January with Governor Hochul’s proposal to end Hold Harmless, a policy that ensures school districts don’t receive less funding than they did in a previous year, even if enrollment drops or other changes occur. If enacted, a total of 337 districts would have been impacted by this proposal by varying degrees, Matteson said, experiencing significant financial troubles or even crises. “That got our attention and we started having conversations in Albany that we needed some time,” Matteson said. NYSED asked for three to five years to collect data on which districts would be most severely impacted by a loss in state aid, and they proposed doing a foundation aid study. 

The legislature and governor wanted the information sooner and moved the timeline to six months. The NYSED therefore moved quickly to put the regionalization process in place, Matteson said, finalizing the plan over the summer and presenting it to districts this fall. “We feel the time to act is now because we’re concerned about what’s coming at us in this next legislative session – we’re quite certain it will be pretty much dominated by conversations about funding of our schools. We continue to have this conversation while that goes on and our advocates continue to have a conversation with both the governor and the legislature about what that’s going to look like,” Matteson said. 

The NYSED plans to have information on each local district’s strengths and needs discussed and evaluated by April 1, 2025, when the legislature is still in session and the state budget is being finalized. 

During the webinar, Matteson went through the initiative’s guiding principles, indicating that regionalization is not reorganization, although the terms have been used interchangeably in fliers and social media posts that oppose the initiative. “The department does not have an interest in merging school districts or forcing school districts to share, or regionalizing school districts. It is a regionalization initiative to work together to make sure that students within the entire region all have access to high quality programs,” Matteson explained. Reorganization is an option for districts if they choose to merge; the NYSED, however, does not have statutory authority to merge districts or create a regionalization district through this initiative. 

Matteson said that while they think collaboration is essential in the 21st century, they understand the value in local authority. Regionalization is not intended to take that away, he said; the initiative is intended to have every district look at their own strengths and gaps, and have a regional conversation about whether or not there’s anything they can do about them.

Frank then spoke about changes in Long Island student demographics, indicating that although there has been a reduction in enrollment by over 20,000 students in Suffolk County, there has been an increase in the number of students with disabilities in our districts. “As less money would potentially be coming in, the needs of these students would be greater,” Frank said. “It’s not just how many kids, but who are the kids?”

Frank also pointed out the strengths in Long Island districts, with world-class enrichment programs and professional learning opportunities for educators. “We believe that districts on Long Island are not only shining examples for us here in New York State, but across the United States,” he said. “When you’ve got high quality programs, the last thing we want is to water them down because they are a strength for our state and our nation.” 

Regionalization is not about eroding local control, he said. It’s not about mergers, reorganization or eliminating local school districts, he continued. It’s also not a way to force districts into taking actions or including things in their plans that they don’t want to undertake. The local district will have the final say on how they participate in the regional plan, Frank explained. This isn’t a way to increase the power of a BOCES, he added, assuring that no one is forcing districts into partnerships with BOCES for their services – that is completely up to the local district, he said. 

The major focus of the initiative is to address student needs and explore operational efficiencies by having local districts engage in conversations and partner with other districts around a variety of solutions, both NYSED officials explained. Solutions may be related to advanced coursework, extracurricular activities, shared staff, shared student support services and more. Some of these solutions may occur through shared BOCES services and some may occur through collaboration between two or more local school districts. The parameters of involvement are up to each district, Matteson said. “We’re coming up for air – stopping and having the conversation before we know what the situation is with the money. We’re prepared to respond no matter what,” he added. 

The timeline is admittedly tight. By December 6, all local districts have to work with their regional district superintendent to create a tentative plan designed to improve student opportunities. Convenings are expected to occur between regional districts and other stakeholders, by voluntary invitation, such as non-public and charter schools. By April 1, 2025, the NYSED requires regional districts to report to the state education commission on their strengths, gaps and areas for advocacy. By next October, a finalized regionalization plan will be completed and school districts will begin implementing the activities they agreed to. Full implementation is expected to take place no later than the start of the 2026-27 school year. This cycle will occur every ten years. 

Matteson said that local school districts will be “thought partners” with BOCES and NYSED. “Tell us what’s broken and give us ideas on how to fix it,” he said. The NYSED does not plan to get “in the weeds” with local districts or regions about how they engage with their communities throughout this process, but they do expect districts to start these conversations. “The local districts are in the driver seat of this process…It really is up to the local superintendents and local boards to engage their community,” Frank said.  

In response to the level of “healthy skepticism” about the initiative, Matteson said that they are dedicated to this issue and meeting the timeline. “We think this really has potential and hopefully we can get over the hurdle and really convince people that it’s a good thing to engage in, and we’re going to try to see this through. We will do our best to earn your trust and that’s all we can do,” Matteson said. 

Letters from officials
Since news of the Regionalization Initiative broke, varied responses and letters from school and political officials have been shared. Some support the initiative, some oppose it, and others state that it’s too soon to share an opinion with community members publicly. 

A letter sent to Long Island superintendents and school board presidents on October 25 from three district superintendents (Larry Leaven from Nassau BOCES, April Poprilo from Western Suffolk BOCES, and Jasmin Varela from Eastern Suffolk BOCES) states that social media posts and fliers suggesting that the goal of the initiative is to cede control of Long Island’s schools to the BOCES is “patently false and would require the adoption of legislation radically changing over one hundred years of law.” 

“To be clear: the initiative is simply about fostering informed local decision making, partnerships, and support for individual districts – with the goal of ensuring that students have access to the educational opportunities they need for success in school and beyond,” the letter reads.  

The district superintendents state that the initiative will provide a platform for local education leaders to discuss and convey to NYSED the strategies, actions and resources they will take to ensure equitable learning opportunities for all students. “It will also create a direct line for individual and cooperating local districts to provide input as the State develops its legislative and budget priorities.” 

In an October 28 letter from Northport-East Northport Superintendent Dr. Dave Moyer to community members, he explained that districts were tasked with providing extensive information to the NYSED on their programming, and regional BOCES were tasked with compiling that information and presenting a plan for their region to the department. “Western Suffolk BOCES Superintendent April Poprilo has assured us of her commitment to work with the region’s superintendents when constructing that plan,” he stated. 

“While we are still admittedly sorting through exactly what all of this means, it is premature to assume that there will be a detrimental impact on our school district. Superintendents across the county are committed to ensuring that we either identify improvements in our operations, or, at the very least, that none of our districts are negatively affected by the State’s Regionalization initiative,” Moyer continued. 

On October 30, Assemblyman Keith Brown, together with New York Senator Mario Mattera and Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick, made public a letter to NYSED Commissioner of Education Dr. Betty Rosa stating that they are firmly opposed to the “emergency rule” process utilized for the Regionalization Initiative.  

“As you know, New York State School Foundation Aid levels for our Long Island school districts were threatened with massive cuts contained in Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposed 2024-25 Executive Budget. We jointly opposed those massive cuts and were successful in our opposition. Now, this latest Plan seeks to once again have our Long Island school districts overburdened without proper notice or process. Our constituents are not pleased, and neither are we,” the letter states. 

“My position hasn’t changed.”
In an email responding to questions from the Journal, Superintendent Moyer said this morning that his position on the Regionalization Initiative has not changed since his letter was sent to community members earlier this week. 

“Local superintendents met again this morning, and we all agree that we will only participate in aspects of the plan that may benefit our districts,” Moyer said. “No local district is being forced to participate in any aspect of the ultimate plan that is being developed.” 

Moyer added that “other than the wasted time and frustration that we are all experiencing, there should be little to no impact on our district.”

He did, however, note a concern about Regionalization being tied to the Rockefeller Institute’s Study on the State’s School Funding Formula and the budget proposal that will be coming from Governor Hochul’s office in January. The study was initiated by Hochul in 2024 and aims to address long-standing concerns about funding fairness and adequacy for state school districts. It’s tasked with proposing updates to the nearly two-decade-old formula that funds public schools and is expected to be complete by the end of the year. 

Regarding the strengths and gaps information that all local districts are required to complete by December 6, Moyer said that the Northport-East Northport district submitted its information to NYSED this morning. 

For more information on the NYSED’s Regionalization Initiative, click here. To watch the October 29 webinar on Regionalization, click here.