The education project, including a training program and matching-grant program, will be funded through a $145,000 grant secured by Rath and through in-kind services provided by UB and Erie I BOCES.

This new cooperative effort is an outgrowth of the Governance Project at UB, which recently issued a report titled "Governance in Erie County: A Foundation for Understanding and Action." The report, released at a forum of local government officials, corporate leaders, civic representatives and academics, urges collaboration on issues of governance of regional significance in Erie County, with the aim of improving local governance and service delivery.

The new venture-one of several dimensions of the Governance Project-will focus on the relationships, and potential relationships, among school districts and local governments, higher education, social service agencies and the private sector.

"The themes and goals of this effort are directly related to the most current and important issues of local governance," said Rath, chair of the Senate Committee on Local Governments. "Intersector collaboration, tax stabilization and the efficient delivery of quality services are necessarily the primary focus of our committee in Albany, and are also the focus of this new education project. I am enthused about working with UB and BOCES on this effort."

Greiner, who initiated the Governance Project at UB, said a primary goal of the new project is to get groups together to identify existing statutory, regulatory and practical barriers to cooperation among schools and other sectors of the community.

"If we can help identify current roadblocks to shared services and efficiencies, our community and leadership can go a lot farther toward doing away with those roadblocks," he said.

"UB is committed to building partnerships that will help us remove barriers to effectiveness in governance. Sen. Rath also has demonstrated her commitment to work with the state Legislature and governor on these objectives.

"This education project is the first of what we hope will be many Governance Project spin-offs," Greiner added. "There are many more ways in which we think UB can support new approaches to local service delivery and governance. We are eager, with the interest and involvement of neighbors and leaders like Sen. Rath, to put UB talents and resources to work on these issues."

Loretan stressed the importance of the training component of the education project. "Among the state, UB and BOCES, there are some terrific people and resources that can be better coordinated to provide very practical training to, for example, new school board members.

With the increasing complexity to almost every aspect of society, effective training can and should be a vital part of collaborations such as this one-particularly in the area of education," he said. "We are hoping this project will be the beginning of an innovative and ongoing training component."

In addition to the training component, matching grants will be available, on a competitive basis, to implement efficiencies and collaborations identified by the project. Schools in Erie and Genesee counties will be eligible to apply for the grants, which should be in place by the fall.

As outlined in the recent Governance Project report, effective collaborations and efficiencies will be essential if Western New York is to successfully compete in the global economy of the 21st century. In the effort to stabilize property taxes and provide public services, including educational services, attention to the interrelationship of cost, quality and efficiency will be essential.

The education project will have practical results, Rath, Greiner and Loretan emphasized.

"The point is not to issue a report," said Rath. "Our intention is to have a very direct and helpful impact through careful research and the pragmatic implementation of project goals, such as the grant program, training component and reform effort in Albany.

"It also is important to understand that this endeavor is not only going to be of value to our educational structure, but to the taxpayers who fund that structure," she said. "Like the work of the Governance Project, we are going to be focused on giving area residents a real value for their tax dollars."

The education project will be coordinated through the Office of Public Service and Urban Affairs at UB, under the direction of Acting Vice President John Sheffer. Other university units participating in the effort, in addition to the Governance Project, will be the Graduate School of Education, the School of Law, the School of Architecture and Planning and the Institute of Government.