Local School Districts to Regionalize Human Resource Services

Beginning July 1, 2010 the High Desert Education School District will partner with the Crook County and Redmond School Districts to regionalize human resource services.

This effort is the result of an efficiency study completed in Central Oregon to identify possible cost saving opportunities within the High Desert Education Service District and its four partner school districts. Bend-La Pine, Crook County, Redmond and Sisters School Districts -- along with the HDESD -- are the focus of the study funded by Chalkboard Project, a non-profit organization working to improve education in the state of Oregon.

"Partnering to provide human resource services to several of our school districts makes perfect sense," said Dennis Dempsey, Superintendent for the HDESD. "We're glad to have discovered this opportunity through the survey process and hope to find more ways we can keep district dollars in the classroom by being more efficient with our business practices."

Decreased education funding and level or declining enrollment in Central Oregon schools are the driving forces behind this effort. Economics consulting firm ECONorthwest conducted the study in conjunction with the HDESD's annual audit process.

"Our fundamental role is, and always has been, to provide regional efficiencies for local school districts," said Dempsey. "Creating a regional human resources program allow us to provide these services at a lower cost than if each district had to pay for them individually."

For more information or to speak with Superintendent Dennis Dempsey, contact Shelley Knutz at
541.693.5608.