Exploratory Enrichment Contract Guidelines | EE Standards for Approval | Dutchess BOCES Service Plan | For More Information

Is it Arts in Education [AIE] or Exploratory Enrichment [EE]?

Arts in Education - CO-SER 5842	Exploratory Enrichment - CO-SER 5840
Program/activity focus on the ARTS Learning Standards. Activities include dance, music, theatre, visual arts, literary arts, media arts (including Scholastic Arts Competition.	Program/activity focuses on academic/occupational Learning Standards across the curriculum, which do NOT have any or a significant arts component and are different from content offerings in standard courses. Summer Scholars is included in this Co-Ser.
Program/activity held in one school or district is eligible for state aid through BOCES AIE CO-SER	Program/activity must be SHARED with another school DISTRICT in the same school-year to be eligible for aid through BOCES EE Co-Ser.
Admission Tickets are eligible for state aid through BOCES AIE CO-SER	Admission tickets are NOT eligible for state aid under BOCES EE CO-SER. Site-based fees are eligible.
Transportation and food costs (unless part of the cultural experience such as with Medieval Times food or are part of the artist fee) are NOT eligible under BOCES AIE CO-SER	Transportation and food costs are NOT eligible under BOCES EE Co-Ser.
Artist/Presenters must be approved by BOCES AIE Coordinator.	Presenter/program must be approved by BOCES EE Coordinator
Arts related professional development is aidable under BOCES AIE CO-SER	Professional staff development is NOT aidable under BOCES EE CO-SER; all PSD, except for AIE, is covered under the PSD Co-Ser.
BOCES AIE CO-SER can be used for K-12 student/staff programs and (professional development in AIE) from July-August and September.	BOCES EE Programs can be used for Pre-K, K-12 student programs, including Summer Scholars, July-August and September-June.

I. Arts in Education Guidelines

AIE Contract Guidelines

The downloadable, fillable “School District Request for Arts in Education” Contract is available on the AIE FORMS page of the BOCES website. Please note that the contract MUST be filled out online and NOT handwritten. However, electronic submissions are not possible. Therefore, after filling out, download it, sign as needed and email to the BOCES Coordinator. Please note that you should adhere to your own district guidelines as to how to submit contracts before sending to BOCES (usually through your district arts in education coordinator).

Schools should complete all areas of the contract and ensure it is signed/dated by the district coordinator AND administrator before emailing to the BOCES coordinator, as listed below. It is acceptable that these two signatures could be by the same person if the district coordinator is also an administrator, i.e., someone authorized to guarantee payment. The BOCES AIE coordinator must receive contracts BEFORE THE EVENT OCCURS. Deadlines for contract receipt are at least eight (8) business days prior to the beginning of the event.
For contracts requiring Pre-pays/PO requests/Deposits (purchases/registrations/subscription fees, and so forth), the deadline is 20 business days prior to the needed first payment date, e.g. the deadline for receipt of a deposit or a registration date for a conference deadline which may be different than the actual event date.
This assumes the district maintains on AIE debit account to pay artists. If this is not the case, BOCES will need to do an individual budget modification for the contract taking more processing time and therefore charging a higher service fee.
BOCES will not accept late contracts, and the district would then need to pay the Vendor/artist directly forfeiting any state aid. It is always a good idea to speak with the Coordinator in unusual circumstances. Submission of contracts can be as much as a year in advance or as per the BOCES coordinator’s instructions. It is always best to send them as soon as possible to facilitate prompt payment.
Many schools/districts fill out most of their AIE contracts in the summer or early in the school year to alleviate delays in payment.
All paperwork is processed electronically with no originals needed, BOCES suggests original paperwork be kept in the District files as reference, at least until payment has been completed.
All artists employed through the AIE Co-Ser who are presenting an arts program for the first time in a district, will need to be fingerprinted prior to presenting the program if the artist will be spending unsupervised time or have direct contact with children under the age of 21 or will be conducting a residency of five days or more. This is the responsibility of the district and artist since BOCES is only the Agent of Payment, not the contractor. The same is true regarding an artist’s insurance.
PAYMENT: Please note: BOCES MUST BE the agent of payment for all contracts (write the checks), although the individual district/school/donation provides the funds to pay the artist/organization and the administration fee. This process assures that BOCES can submit their annual report on all AIE Co-Ser expenditures for that school calendar year to the State Education Department. Aid is then received by the district in their first general state aid payment of the following year.
Therefore, BOCES, NOT THE DISTRICT/SCHOOL, must issue payment to the artist/organization. If the school pays the artist/organization directly, any state aid is forfeited as it becomes impossible for BOCES to account for those expenditures in its end of year report on how much aid is due.
For concerns about payments, please notify the BOCES Coordinator to discuss.
Payment to the artist/organization normally should take no more than 3-6 weeks. This depends on the timely receipt of all accurate paperwork. Keep in mind that BOCES only cuts checks every two weeks, with a prior deadline for paperwork submission. Budget modifications, W9 forms missing or not consistent with the contract and artist’s IRS filing, Business Office payment schedules, missing paperwork (original contracts/invoices/claim forms), holidays/emergency situations, and so forth, could delay payment. Concerning budget modifications, payment is much more efficient if the school district maintains an AIE debit account to pay artists rather than BOCES, depending on individual budget modifications for each contract. The latter requires extra time and will often cause a significant delay. In addition, the administrative fee is higher when no debit account is available.
Filling Out The Contract:

Provider Information: In filling out the contract, the name or organization name should exactly duplicate the artist’s IRS tax filing on the W9. For example, if the artist files under their name and Social Security # (individual), the contract is completed in this way; if the artist files under an organization name such as “Puppet People, Inc.” or using a TIN# (group), fill the contract out accordingly. Again, the information provided on these lines MUST exactly match the information provided on the W9 (for 1099 reporting purposes). Please list the provider’s email address and phone # when available also.
DATES: Please provide Exact Dates on contracts/invoices, not a range such as September 10- October 20. If exact dates are unknown initially, fill out a Contract Modification as soon as possible. This will often necessitate an updated invoice also. Before payment can be initiated, the Claim Form/Modification/Invoice must be in alignment regarding dates.
W9: Since we keep W9s on file, a new W9 is unnecessary unless Dutchess BOCES has never worked with the artist/organization before OR more than three years have passed since they have OR an address/name change has occurred. The contract does provide a check-off box noting whether a W9 is being sent with the contract and it is always a good idea to send it when available.
School Information: Please provide reliable information on school contacts, whether staff or volunteer, who can answer questions about the contract if necessary. Please include an email address and reachable phone number.
Alternate Payments: If Pre-Payment is needed (available for purchases when the artist/vendor will not accept a PO to guarantee payment, e.g., some tickets, participation fees, annual subscriptions, and registrations), please check the box and fill in the Required Date. Please note that this is the date by which the payment must be received, not the actual event date. BOCES should be allowed at least 20 business days prior to the payment deadline (not the event date) to assure payment by the requested date.Partial Payment: BOCES can only provide payment on services after they are completed. However, if a residency is very long, e.g., a month in October and a month in May, partial payments can be requested after whatever part of the services have been completed. If Partial Payments on services rendered are needed, please check that off on the contract and please clearly state in the description area the following: how many partial payments will there be, how much will the payment be for each, and after what dates. For example, if you request two partial payments, you might say something such as Payment #1/2 will be $4000 to be paid as soon as possible after 10/30 (that part of the services having been completed) and Payment #2/2 will be for $4000 as soon as possible after the remainder of the work is completed. There is no limit on the number of payments that can be requested fee on the contract as long as they total the final fee and are divided according to completion.
PO REQUESTS: If the provider will accept a PO in lieu of pre-payment, check off that box and provide the email where the PO should be sent (sometimes different than the Provider Information email) to ensure the PO is sent accurately when available. This guarantees payment. Payment in full is sent after the event concludes and is confirmed via Claim Form by the district.
Partial Payment/Deposits: BOCES can only provide payment on services after they are completed. Partial payments are possible after segments of the service have been completed. For example, if a residency extended over a long time period, such as a month in October and a month in May, two partial payments would possibly be requested: #1/2 might be for half the fee payable after the last October date; Payment #2/2 would be paid after the last May date and the completion of the contract.
Please check that the Pre-Payment line on the contract in this case, filling in the # of payments needed. Then, clearly state in the description area the following: how many partial payments will there be, how much each payment will be, and after what dates. For example, if you request two partial payments, you might say something such as Payment #1/2 will be $4,000 to be paid as soon as possible after 10/30 (that part of the services having been completed) and Payment #2/2 will be for $4,000 as soon as possible after the remainder of the work is completed. BOCES will keep the contract open until the entire fee has been paid.
Any reasonable number of payments is possible as long as they total the final fee and payments are in proportion to the part of the service that was completed. A Claim Form is then sent after each segment is completed listing only the dates included and partial fee.
Deposits are a kind of partial payment. If a deposit is required, check off the partial pay box as above. In the description area as above, list requirements but stating that payment #1/2 is a deposit e.g., Payment #1/2; Deposit of $2,000 needed by January 5/ #2/2: $5,000 after completion of program on May 10. Again, a claim form is needed for final payment.
If there are concerns about payment, please contact the BOCES Coordinator to discuss.
Description: Please briefly describe how the Learning Outcomes for the program align with the curriculum and how the designated NYS Learning Standards for the Arts will be met as designated. Include in this section any details regarding partial payments/deposits/grants. Continue on the back of the contract or on a separate, attached piece of paper if needed.
Evaluation: Please fill in the name/contact information of the staff responsible for post-event follow-up evaluation. Since the district is the contractor, this is its responsibility.
Grants: If there is no grant for the particular contract, leave this section blank. If the grant is enough to cover the entire fee, then no contract can come through BOCES for aid (BOCES is not involved as the district is paying the vendor/artist directly with the grant dollars. An exception might be if the grant is from a non-government entity. In that case, if the grant is given to the district to be used for the enrichment program and the district completes a BOCES contract and deposits the grant dollars it receives into its AIE debit account to pay BOCES, it could receive aid.)
However, if a grant is received from a local/state/federal government entity, such as NYSCA/ our local arts council re-granting federal funds/the DC legislature, it would be double-dipping to use it to request aid again via a BOCES contract, as this is already aid to the district.
If ONLY a partial grant from the government entity is awarded to offset the total artist fee, check off the box here. For example, if a residency costs $3,000 and there is a $1,000 grant awarded from a government entity, subtract the amount of the grant from the total fee and only put that amount in the FEE section at the top of the contract. In this case, the remaining $2,000 would be aidable under the BOCES Co-Ser. Again, you cannot claim the $1,000 grant from the government entity for aid as that would be “double-dipping,” but the remaining $2,000 paid by the district would be aidable. Fill out the contract and after your usual contract description in Section II, write, e.g., a $1,000 grant was received from Dutchess County Arts Council (source) to partially offset the artist fee of $3,000.
Signatures: The contract must also be signed/dated by the district AIE Coordinator in addition to the authorized district/school administrator. Sometimes these signatures are the same, depending on the district staff involved.
Please note the statement above these signature lines at the bottom of the contract. First, the district administrator is certifying by their signature that the contract does not include transportation/food (which are not aidable). (This excludes any artist transportation that is part of that artist's fee or, similarly, supplies needed by the artist). Secondly, they are authorized to guarantee payment of the contract by the district. Lastly, they understand that an administrative fee of 7% per contract will be assessed unless previously paid.
District Coordinators: Again, district coordinators should carefully check contracts/ invoices/W9s to ensure everything is accurate before signing. If time is an issue, please send the basic contract and catch up with the rest of the paperwork as soon as possible.
After completion, and following individual district process (usually means the district AIE coordinator will process it first), the contract should be emailed to the current BOCES Coordinator, copying current support staff, on all correspondence. At this point, after approval as a legitimate AIE expenditure indicated by the BOCES Coordinator’s signature, BOCES becomes the agent of payment, proceeds with securing a Purchase Order, and assures payment, using the appropriate district funds, as necessary. The BOCES Coordinator will confirm approval by email with the district coordinator and place the event on the BOCES AIE calendar. If, for some reason, the contract is not approved, an email to that effect will be sent back to the district coordinator also.
Contract Modifications: If there is a contract modification before the date of the performance, fill in the changed items such as new dates/fees, include a copy of the original contract and resubmit. PLEASE NOTE: If using an invoice, we will need a new invoice also reflecting the changes that have occurred.
Claim Forms: After completion of the service described in the contract, send the Claim Form as it will confirm to BOCES that the service was completed and the payment may be initiated. Send this Claim Form as soon as possible after contract completion to ensure prompt payment and avoid missing submission dates/check runs. Please note, only the District/school signature is necessary. EXCEPTION: if the artist signed the original contract in lieu of sending an invoice, they must also sign the Claim Form and send a final invoice or confirming email.
Please ensure that all dates/fee/information on the Claim Form match the information on the contract/invoice/modification if needed/W9. The fillable form is available electronically on the BOCES AIE forms page. This form does not need to be original and can be emailed.
NO Claim Form IS NEEDED FOR PRE-PAYMENTS since these are not for services rendered but for payments/purchases such as tickets/registrations/deposits/subscriptions.
However, if a vendor/artist will accept a Purchase Order (PO) in lieu of pre-payment, BOCES will send a PO as soon as it is available and before the event, which will guarantee payment. The district must then send a Claim Form upon contract completion at which time BOCES will process final payment.

Guidelines for Approval

The following is a list of Dutchess BOCES Guidelines for program approval developed to assure the integrity of the aforementioned NYSED Program:

Compliance with the following standards is required for BOCES aid approval:

Alignment with the New York State Learning Standards for the Arts.
Alignment with the curriculum, i.e., the arts performance should enrich and be appropriate to the curriculum.
Activities and services pertaining to the arts may involve multiple contacts. For example, a residency, which may be one day in length but is usually of longer duration, is different than an assembly program and often requires multiple contacts between artists, students and teachers. For example, an artist might provide staff development activities for teachers before or after a performance. Activities or special interest workshops might be held for students in addition to a performance. Another example might be a multiple contract between districts for a countywide musical production. These types of arts experiences are highly recommended.
Programs must include a teacher evaluation as part of the plan.
Dutchess BOCES does not have an approved list of artists/cultural organizations. The BOCES Coordinator approves each contract as aidable via their signature. You are encouraged to request recommendations if desired. In addition, on the Arts In Education home page, you can access a statewide roster that can be helpful. This is meant to be a guide/contact vehicle and is not meant to be restrictive or inclusive in any way.
Some examples of aidable programs are artists-in residence, professional development in the arts, author visits, theatre and museum tickets, registrations for NYSSMA/DCMEA, and arts-related components to larger events such as an appropriate Imax movie when visiting a museum/site.
This service may also grant aid for the cost of students’ admission tickets for field trips to attend visual arts exhibitions, dance/music/dramatic performances. This includes local and non-local activities/venues such as a Broadway show, all museums, Bardavon performances, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, etc.
Transportation/Food costs are not eligible for BOCES aid. Weekend/evening is not eligible [exception: a weekday evening or weekend performance that is part of/connected to an artist-in-residence or workshop project or a connected event that is only available on a weekend]. Summer activities may be aidable. Please contact the AIE coordinator to see if the program can qualify.
All artists employed through the AIE Co-Ser who are presenting an arts program for the first time in a district, will need to be fingerprinted prior to presenting the program if the artist will be spending unsupervised time or have direct contact with children under the age of 21 or will be conducting a residency of five days or more. This is the responsibility of the district and artist.

Following is a scale recommended by Edward S. Marschilok, associate in music education at the NYSED Office of Curriculum and Instruction in 1998-99, to determine if an arts program has educational value:

********	Highest rating
********	Students demonstrate learning due to motivation/challenge of the workshop, exhibition or performance
*******	Enrichment for another core subject that addresses one of the Arts Standards
**	Exposure with no personal commitment to an art form or an opportunity to demonstrate learning
*	Entertainment that passes time, requires no student effort, and is superficial

It should be a goal of all district arts coordinators to ensure that every student, over the course of their school careers, enjoys the benefit of exposure to at least one or more arts residency. Exposure to an arts workshop or event for every student each year is highly desirable.

II: AIE Ticket Purchase Guidelines for Artistic/Cultural Events and Field Trips

The New York State Education Department allows aid on ticket purchases for students/teachers/ chaperones (number determined as per district/vendor requirements). As always, BOCES must be the agent of payment in order for the district to receive aid. Admission fees [not other related costs such as transportation, lunch, etc.] to concerts, theatre, ballet, dance and museums are eligible for this aid. Events must support the New York State Learning Standards for the Arts.

When a request for tickets or admissions is received by BOCES, the district will be billed for the total amount (or with dollars in the district AIE debit account maintained for that purpose) unless the vendor has agreed to defer payment until after the event. (In this case, a copy of the PO is sent to guarantee payment with the Claim Form submitted for final payment after the contract conclusion.

PURCHASING TICKETS:

A teacher, principal, superintendent, or arts coordinator makes all arrangements for dates, times, and number of tickets, directly with the vendor/organization (theatre, museum, etc.). They will also ask the box office to send an invoice listing BOCES as the agent responsible for payment and obtain a W9. Again, these include only admission costs and not transportation or other related costs. They may include service fees. The school representative needs to arrange with the vendor to have the tickets reserved at their location, picked up, or sent directly to the school for an additional fee. This fee can be included in the request to BOCES.
Complete the contract as always and send with the invoice and W9 from the box office to BOCES. This is the only paperwork BOCES needs but detailed contract agreements (e.g., cancellation terms), should be confirmed by the district in writing with signatures of both parties and attached as per their usual contract arrangements.
Ideally, the vendor may agree to defer payment until after the event. See PO request instructions for these cases.
Dutchess BOCES cannot reimburse individuals/organizations/schools for tickets that have already been purchased. To guarantee state aid reimbursement, DC BOCES must pay the box office directly for tickets.
There are instances when part of the fee must be paid directly to the artist/vendor (no aid) and partially through BOCES contract (aid). See DEPOSITS as an example. In that case, the school/district should pay that portion of the fee directly to the artists/vendor and list only the remaining expenditure in the FEE section on the contract. The invoice needs to align with the stated fee.
Deposits are eligible for aid and processed as per Partial Payment guidelines above. This is payment #1. Remaining fees are paid either when the PO is received, in additional partial payments or at the conclusion of the contract as per contract requirements. If the timeline is so short that the deadline is not possible, the district will pay the deposit directly (no aid) and put in a BOCES contract for the remaining portion of the fee.

III. [NYSSMA] New York State School Music Association

[DCMEA] Dutchess County Music Educators Association

Annual district participation fees (dues) and professional development registration fees are aidable. This allows the district to participate in all of the association(s) annual programs/adjudications/concerts/ sponsored workshops.

Manuals: The purchase of digital annual NYSSMA Manuals is aidable and processed in the same manner as PO Request contracts.

All student registration fees for events are aidable such as All-County Music Festivals, Solo and Small Ensemble workshops, Majors Festivals, Area All-State Conferences (excluding room and board; it is a very short timetable, however, so please make arrangements with the BOCES Coordinator before processing). Teacher membership fees are not aidable UNLESS the district pays the entire fee for all its music staff.

As always, Dutchess County BOCES is the agent of payment, so it must write the check to NYSSMA/DCMEA. Therefore, DCMEA/NYSSMA will only accept payment in the form of a BOCES check. All checks will be made out to DCMEA/NYSSMA and mailed directly either to DCMEA/NYSSMA or the DCMEA/NYSSMA Festival Chairperson for accounting purposes. The invoice sent along with the contract will accompany the check. In general, invoices in these cases are the student registration forms. Please ensure all student names on invoices are “blacked out” so they cannot be read.

All DCMEA/NYSSMA contracts are pre-payments for either participation fees or registrations. Contracts are received by Dutchess BOCES at least 20 business days before payment is due to ensure payment is received BEFORE the event.

Specific steps for submitting DCMEA/NYSSMA follows:

1. Fill out the contract as always. A copy of the contract can be downloaded by going to the FORMS section of the Arts In Education website at www.dcboces.org/artsineducation. Please be especially careful to note the following:

Under “Artist or Organization”, list DCMEA/NYSSMA, c/o chair’s name
The “Address” should be that of where the check is to be sent, i.e., the school/organization name and address of DCMEA/NYSSMA or the DCMEA/NYSSMA Chair. The same would be true of the other contact information
The Federal ID # for DCMEA to be used on your contracts is: 20-4872683
The Federal ID # for NYSSMA to be used on your contracts is: 11-19-76-465
The information listed under “School Contact” should reflect that of the school (or district for annual participation fee) and person submitting the contract
Please check the pre-payment box and insert a “Required By” date as listed on the invoice. Contracts are due no later than 20 business days prior to the needed payment.
Only in this case, BOCES will take care of procuring W-9s.

2. IF the contract is for the Annual District Participation Fee, under Section II/Descrption of the contract state: “Annual District Participation Fee”.

3. IF the contract is for a festival or workshop, the description should include a brief description of the festival or workshop.

4. IF the contract is for professional staff development registration, fill in the workshop name/teacher names if for individuals, and brief description. You can say something such as “Please pay immediately. Registration fee”. If all participating teachers (list their names) are not on the same invoice, either a new invoice is needed or additional contracts for the additional teachers.

5. In ALL cases, PLEASE ATTACH A COPY OF THE DCMEA/NYSSMA INVOICE. Invoices are sent with the BOCES check upon payment so that DCMEA/NYSSMA is clear which fee it is for. Please note that this is not a school invoice, but a copy of the DCMEA/NYSSMA registration forms, which will include clear information on which school district is involved, number of participating students or teachers, annual participation fee, workshop or festival, staff development, etc.

6. Under “Artist or Arts Organization Signature”, please circle VENDOR INVOICE”. No further signature is required of DCMEA/NYSSMA.

7. As with any contract, the district would deposit the appropriate monies in its BOCES AIE Co-Ser debit and receive aid the following year.

IV. SCHOLASTIC Contract Guidelines

Dutchess County BOCES is part of the four-county Hudson Valley Affiliate for National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards along with Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties, as well as the Middletown CSD. This prestigious arts competition is an annual event offering participation in both art and writing for 7-12 graders. At this time, the Hudson Valley Affiliate is only sponsoring the art competition, not the writing.

If your district is participating, the guidelines follow:

1. In September, the BOCES Coordinator will forward a form requesting confirmation of your interest to participate in the Art Awards competition on behalf of Sullivan BOCES which acts as lead agency of the Affiliate. Complete it and return to their coordinator. This form will serve as your contract invoice.

2. Fill out an AIE contract as always. In the fee section, place the fee for either one school or the district as indicated. Under Section II, Descriptions, write “Participation in the Scholastic Art Competition for school year _________.” Attach the invoice as indicated above.

3. Dutchess BOCES will become the agent of payment and forward this registration fee to Sullivan BOCES. This is not a cross-contract and therefore allows aid on this fee through the Dutchess County AIE Co-Ser, as with any other AIE contract.

4. This all-inclusive registration fee allows for unlimited participation of any number of students and pieces/portfolios from the participating school or district. All adjudication, a local awards ceremony and exhibition, and local awards will be overseen through the Affiliate.

5. If a Dutchess County district is not involved in the AIE Co-Ser and wishes to participate for the all-inclusive fee, they may also register through Sullivan BOCES at a higher cost but will receive no aid.

6. If a student from a non-participating school/district or private entity wishes to participate as an individual (e.g. from a private school or from a home-schooled student), they must register through the Affiliate and pay their own fee per piece of work/portfolio. No aid is forthcoming in this regard. However, Sullivan BOCES or their designee will serve as liaison and should be contacted for submission details. These pieces will still be included in the adjudication and other related activities.

6. WRITING: The Affiliate does not facilitate the writing competition. However, since there exists a local affiliate, any student within the Affiliate area who wishes to participate in the writing competition, should register directly on the National website at www.artandwriting.org(link is external) (link is external).

7. Please forward any questions to the Dutchess BOCES AIE Coordinator.

Exploratory Enrichment Guidelines

EE Contract Guidelines

EE Contract Guidelines Information Document [PDF: Adobe Acrobat Reader format]

The downloadable “School District Request For Exploratory Enrichment” contract is available on the BOCES website, www.dcboces.org/artsineducation, in both Word and pdf formats. Once on the Arts in Education home page, click on FORMS or click on the word contract in #1 below.

Please note: Although you can download a blank contract or fill it in online and then download it, the system will neither save your data nor can the contract be submitted electronically.

1. Schools should complete all areas of the contract and assure it is signed by the District coordinator/administrator before faxing/mailing to the BOCES Coordinator, as listed below. Contracts need to be received by Maria DeWald, BOCES AIE Coordinator, at least one month prior (8 weeks prior for prepayments for registrations, tickets, etc.) to the activity date. It is possible that contracts received after the program occurs may not be accepted. They can be as much as a year in advance but no later than May 1.

2. Coordinators need to carefully check contracts / W9 to assure everything is filled out and signed accurately. An email or faxed contract can be submitted initially but, eventually, an original contract will be needed for payment The contract form MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A VENDOR INVOICE (no originals are needed for this form; an emailed or faxed copy is acceptable). Please assure the invoice lists BOCES AS AGENT OF PAYMENT.

3. PLEASE NOTE: individual ticket prices are NOT aid able under the EE Co-ser but site-based fees are. Therefore, when filling out this section of the contract, please assure you list the total fee only even. For example, if it is ticket based to utilize a site and the charge is $5/student and there are 100 students attending, please just list $500 as the site based fee without further detail.

4. In filling out the contract, the name of the vendor/organization should exactly duplicate the vendor’s IRS tax filing, e.g. if the vendor files under their name and Social Security # (individual), fill the contract out this way; if the vendor files under an organization name such as “Dutchess Parks” or uses a TIN# (group), fill the contract out this way. The W9 should match exactly. It is not necessary to send a new W9 unless the vendor is new or has not been used in more than three years. It can be faxed or emailed and does not need to be an original copy.

5. The Exploratory Enrichment Co-ser is utilized for all activities supporting the district curriculum excluding arts-in-education based activities which are covered under the Arts In Education Co-ser. Please see the chart above for more detailed information of the difference between the two co-sers. Please note however that these curriculum areas can be taught through the arts (dance, language arts, media arts, music, visual arts) and may therefore be submitted under the AIE Co-Ser IF the arts basis is substantial. For example, Puppet People’s Bully Busters show is AIE as it is primarily an arts based activity in the form of a theatre puppet production, even though character education programs are normally considered Exploratory Enrichment activities. All are encouraged to choose an arts based program if at all possible.

6. As with AIE, BOCES becomes the agent of payment for all contracts. Therefore, BOCES must pay the vendor, not the school. However, districts must assure that the cost of the program, plus any administration fees, are made available to BOCES if the district is not maintaining an EE debit account for such purposes. The administrator’s signature on the contract guarantees this.

7. Since programs submitted under the EE Co-ser must be shared by at least TWO Dutchess County districts within the same school year to receive state aid, an EE calendar is available to check the status of booked programs for the year. Every attempt will be made by BOCES to help assure a match before processing the contract. The school district in question is also encouraged to try and investigate possible matches before submitting the contract.

8. If there is a contract modification before the date of the performance, fill out the Contract Modification form, in the places where it differs such as a new fee or dates, staple to a copy of the old contract and resubmit.

9. District Coordinators are to assure that vendors have a copy of the Vendor Claim Form to facilitate payment after the activity is completed. This form should be submitted within 24 hrs of the event. NO PAYMENT CAN BE ISSUED WITHOUT THIS FORM. The form is available electronically at the BOCES EE site or by clicking above.

10. Payment to the vendor normally should take no more than 6 weeks. However, budget modifications, W-9 forms either missing or not consistent with the contract and artist’s IRS filing, business office payment schedule, no vendor Claim Form, emergency situations, etc. could hold this up. In regard to budget modifications, it is much more effective if the school district maintains an EE debit account, separate from the AIE account, with BOCES so that billing for each individual contract, which requires extra time, does not hold up the vendor payment process.

EE Standards for Approval

The following is a list of Dutchess BOCES Guidelines for program approval developed to assure the integrity of the aforementioned NYSED Program. Compliance with the following standards is required for BOCES aid approval:

Alignment with the New York State Standards in academic or occupational subject matter areas, excluding arts-in-education which is covered under Co-ser 5842, providing activities which exceed or are different from content offerings found in standard courses. For example, organizations like the Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County, or other science, environmental, historical, career development and character education specialists will provide students and teachers access to instructional resources and programs that are not available in a traditional classroom environment
Activities occur at any time during the school year or during the months of July- August for activities such as Summer Scholars. They may include workshops, individual residential programs, residencies, etc.
Activities may not generate school or college credit
Activities may not be scheduled on weekends although there are SOME cases of programs that begin during the school day but extend to the weekend that MAY be approved.
Activities may not involve extracurricular activities such as Olympics of the Mind although an activity that occurs during the school day and extends into afterschool hours MAY be aid able.
No transportation/food/professional staff development costs are eligible for aid
Admission tickets are not eligible for aid but the cost of specialized facilities are eligible (see site-based fee explanation above). Facilities may include BOCES facilities, shared district classrooms, or other out-of-district facilities such as, but not limited to, universities and colleges, museums, libraries, environmental centers, historic sites, estates, zoos, and gardens. In addition, this Co-ser shall include a summer enrichment program, High School of Excellence for Summer Scholars, which provides for a two-week in-residence enrichment study at the county’s colleges.
Approval for any EE activity is given on an individual contract basis according to curriculum appropriateness.
Vendors and cultural organizations listed on the Exploratory Enrichment Website are recommended as a guide and are not meant to be restrictive or inclusive in any way.
All vendors employed through the EE Co-Ser who are presenting an EE program for the first time in a district, will need to be fingerprinted prior to presenting the program if the vendor will be spending unsupervised time or have direct contact with children under the age of 21 or will be conducting a residency of five days or more. This is the responsibility of the district and artist.

Dutchess BOCES Service Plan

A. Needs which the service will meet:

There is a demonstrated need for our Dutchess County students to have the opportunity to appreciate the scope of our NYS Learning Standards. Experts and institutions focusing on standards in Mathematics, Science, and History as well as Environmental, Career Development, Health and Character Education Issues, need to be made widely available. Again, this Co-ser will exclude Arts in Education enrichment which is outlined in Co-Ser 5842.

This program will provide authentic opportunities for these standards to come alive, be applied to real life experiences and educational issues and to have genuine meaning. There is a strong need to apply these standards to hands-on experiences.

B. Measurable Goals and Objectives of the Service:

1. To provide students with hands-on authentic experiences that demonstrate the concepts of the NYS Learning Standards, excluding Arts in Education which is outlined in Co-Ser 5842.

2. To improve the knowledge and understanding of classroom and specialty teachers regarding authentic activities that enable students to better integrate and apply knowledge that is part of the traditional classroom experience.

C. Evaluation Measures to Determine Achievement of Goals and Objectives:

Evaluations of all programs will be completed by teachers noting the impact of the program on student learning and understanding of program objectives.

D. Role of BOCES Staff in Providing Service – Describe Specific Tasks/Activities:

BOCES administrators will collaborate with districts in the coordination, contracting, and evaluation of these programs and will meet regularly with the district representatives. Communications will be sustained through e-mail and meetings.

For more information:

Kathleen Schneck
Coordinator, Arts in Education/Exploratory Enrichment
Dutchess County BOCES
Educational Resources
5 BOCES ROAD
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
v: 845.486.4840 ext. 4604
E-Mail: kathleen.schneck@dcboces.org
Web: www.dcboces.org/artsineducation

Search form