Once again, the fate of the $43.5 million Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES project rests with the nine school boards. After more than a year of legal fights, leaders from the Skaneateles Central School District and the other eight BOCES districts reached a compromise last week.

Skaneateles, which has maintained it is being asked to pay more than it should for the new campus, would now shoulder about $682,000 less. The other districts would pick up that burden. BOCES officials say the adjustments would shift the taxpayers' responsibility by one to two cents - with Skaneateles being the lone district that would see a net reduction in taxes.

For that compromise to go through, all of the BOCES component districts should sign off on this compromise.

The other eight district boards might be tempted to vote this deal down. Essentially, if you measure who gave up what, Skaneateles would win this battle. Skaneateles residents would pay a little less than the proposal currently in place, while the other districts would shell out more each year.

But the time for bickering should end.

As school boards meet over the next two weeks to consider this agreement, they need to remember the beneficiaries of this project - the students.

All of the lawyers, judges and legal documents that have dominated this project drowned out the purpose for building a new BOCES campus. Conditions at the existing facility on South Street Road are abysmal - and have been that way for years. A new, modern BOCES would be an asset to the community.

This will be the second time in a little more than a year that school boards have voted on this project. Between those two votes, the public gave its approval in a December referendum. But the Skaneateles legal challenged has delayed progress.

We hope this next chapter in the BOCES saga is the last.