After having worked 28 years in two local school districts I am now serving at our regional BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services). Perhaps in some state our type of organization is known as an intermediate unit of some sort. Our mission is to provide services to school districts (many of which are small and rural) which they can not provide for themselves. Among these services are: regional computer services distance learning staff development In New York - a local school district receives state aid for its purchase of BOCES services. For example: If a school district purchases $1000 of staff training through BOCES, and its aid ratio is .68 it will receive $680 back the following year from the state. Regardless of New York's state aid formula - it seems to me that most, if not all, states have some form of intermediate school district which should be utilized for technical support, staff training and the other ancillary issues mentioned. If they do not - isn't it time that the consider supporting such cooperation? Also - one of our significant BOCES services is the "School Library System" which in fact is a "library for librarians". The SLS not only electronically connects all of our school libraries but also connects our school library system with the public library system. No one school district could attempt such a thing but by working together in a cooperative (consortium) we can do so and spread out the administrative costs among many participating districts. We already have small models for what we need to do with Internet access. I think it would be wise to learn from them. Paul Preuss PPreuss@Herkimer-BOCES.moric.org Phone: 315 867 2007 FAX: 315 867 2024