County Office of Education: explaining how it functions

It gets little public attention, yet 21 school districts in Ventura County rely on it like army battalions depend on their maintenance companies.

Parents, and sometimes even elected officials, confuse it with community school districts. Often it is misperceived as holding power over the decisions of local school boards. Not so.

With little fanfare, it serves students countywide who cannot get the educational services they need from local school districts.

We're talking about the Ventura County Office of Education.

I wanted to take a moment to explain exactly what the office does to work for quality education for everyone in Ventura County.

In short, the VCOE, often referred to as the county Superintended of Schools Office, saves local school districts money and valuable time by providing services school districts otherwise would have to offer independently. And it serves as an intermediary between local school districts and the state agencies that govern them. (See story on page 15.)

The office does this in two ways: by providing valuable administrative support, and by operating school and educational programs for the most challenging students in the county. We provide low-cost services for school districts, allowing them to focus their funds and time on what they do best: educate students.

The county office provides necessary and cost-saving services to local school districts to help them meet the demands of today's students and tomorrow's world. Along with local school districts, we are committed to providing high quality education to more than 145,000 K-12 students in Ventura County.

Administratively, the county office helps Ventura County schools control costs, and avoid duplication of services. We manage payroll for 23,000 employees in 21 school districts, provide accounting and personnel services, present oversight and monitoring of district budgets, certify teaching credentials, and offer ongoing training to district staff.

The county office holds no budgetary authority over how school districts spend taxpayer dollars. However, it can help inform how best to spend those tax dollars, and probably more importantly, how to save money.

Without the county office, each school district would have to hire personnel to perform these tasks individually. Instead of 21 separate high-level payroll managers, the county office serves everyone. Because of this, the county office is well-informed about ever-changing state and federal laws and can properly inform districts of changes.

Otherwise, each district would have to monitor these changes independently. Instead of 21 separate high-level regulatory managers, we provide a one-stop regulatory affairs office for school districts.

Additionally, the VCOE provides many other services, including child care planning assistance, work-life planning, and free Internet services for teachers. It offers services to help teachers to really improve student achievement.

It's all about economy of scale. Much like the private sector might contract out for certain services instead of hiring personnel to handle it, the county Office of Education provides administrative services so local school districts can, again, focus on educating children.

Educationally, we operate court schools and provide educational services for students incarcerated or expelled, and for the severely handicapped, and provide job and vocational training. We provide a full range of options to meet the educational and service requirements of students with special needs.

Something to note is our Regional Occupational Program, where industry-experienced credentialed teachers provide students skills needed for successful employment. Serving more than 3,700 high school students, it provides training for jobs in 31 different careers. Said one 17-year-old taking a banking and finance ROP class right on his regular high school campus, which trained him as a bank teller, "I got a job that I can make a career of, that actually gets paid very well. I am very thankful for the chance and the opportunity."

Every year, the VCOE provides powerful extracurricular programs to county districts.

It produces the Academic Decathlon, giving students the chance to compete in a series of academic events at the countystate and national level; the Ventura County Science Fairwhere students get to tap into community resources to solve scientific and technologicaproblems; Mock Trial, where students get real-life experience in law and legal procedure; and Impact 2, which celebrates the county's innovative teachers.

These programs, and VCOE policy and direction, are governed by the county Board of Education, comprised of separately elected leaders from five different districts. Each member brings differing experience to a governing body that is diverse yet cohesive.

Chairing the Board is a longtime real estate agent. He is supported by a teacher, a businessman, a land use and real estate acquisition consultant, and an educational policy adviser for a state lawmaker who also is a certified emergency medical technician.

Diverse, yes, but long-time Board members will say this is the best working team ever leading the office.

Our first responsibility is to service local school districts, and our goal is to save tax dollars by providing a mosaic of economy-of-scale services, so everyone benefits from all styles of learning.

We aim to maintain a cooperative and supportive working relationship with local school districts, their school boards, and the community.

Dean Kunicki is a member of the Ventura County Board of Education.