April 7, 2025
As student interest in career and technical education grows, the New Hartford Central School District is planning to increase the number of openings for New Hartford students to participate in related programs at Oneida-Herkimer-Madison (OHM) BOCES.
The district’s 2025-26 budget proposal will include additional seats in OHM’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) and Career and Technical Education (CTE).
P-TECH integrates career readiness with a curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree from Mohawk Valley Community College at no cost to the student. P-TECH is open to students entering grade 9 and enrollees can elect to participate in one of twelve degree programs, including business administration, computer science and electrical engineering technology.
CTE focuses on preparing students for employment, careers or post-secondary education through skill training. CTE is open to students in grades 11 and 12 and offers programs such as welding, animal science, construction trades, early childhood education and automotive technology.
In the last three years, New Hartford’s participation has increased from 5 to 14 students in P-TECH and 43 to 71 students in CTE.
By increasing the number of seats in P-TECH and CTE programming, the district is able to offer diverse educational programming to more of its students while supporting the individual needs of each student.
The district also partners with OHM BOCES for other shared educational programming and services, including special education, food service, safety and security, and technology infrastructure support.
As district administrators continue the budget development process, they anticipate BOCES costs to increase by $225,279 or 2.18%. The increase is primarily due to rising costs for P-TECH and CTE, increasing tuition for special education, and necessary upgrades for the district’s bus radios.
“The district continues to advocate for the BOCES state aid limit on salaries to increase from $30,000 to $60,000 to help offset the rising costs for programs like P-TECH and CTE,” said Interim Superintendent of Schools Joe Barretta. “However, we don’t expect the state to increase BOCES aid so we’re factoring in those costs with the tax levy increase.”
The district’s 2025-26 budget proposal is expected to carry a 3.26% tax levy increase in order to maintain all current programming. District residents will vote on the proposal Tuesday, May 20. Learn more about the budget proposal and vote on the district’s Budget & Finance webpage.