All but one of the school districts in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES approved the BOCES budget this week.

The Southern Cayuga Central School District Board of Education rejected the $1.2 million budget request 3-2. Every other district approved the BOCES budget unanimously.

“At a time when all school districts are cutting and scraping, an increase is supposedly acceptable for BOCES. In my opinion, that is unacceptable,” said Theodore Rejman, president of the Southern Cayuga school board. The Southern Cayuga's portion of the budget increased over last year, from $76,985 to $83,144.

Rejman also voted against last year's BOCES budget, which passed in his district.

The $1.2 million BOCES budget is down from last year's approved $1.57 million.

The votes mean this year's BOCES budget has been passed, as it requires only a minimum majority (five districts) approval. But BOCES officials were struck by Southern Cayuga's rejection.

BOCES Assistant Superintendent Dave Boyle said, in his 20 years as an administrator, he had not seen a BOCES budget voted down.

“This is a BOCES and it's a cooperative process. We never like to see a district voting down the administrative budget,” he said.