2011 Oregon Revised Statutes
ORS Volume 9, Chapters 326 - 365
ORS Chapter 334
334.800 Establishment; director; duties; rules.

(1) The Office of Regional Educational Services is established for the purposes of coordinating the efforts of and providing leadership for regional educational service delivery systems. The office shall function under the direction and control of the State Board of Education.

(2)(a) The Director of the Office of Regional Educational Services shall serve as the administrative officer of the Office of Regional Educational Services. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall select the director.

(b) The director shall perform the duties, powers and functions of the office under the supervision and subject to the direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(3) The office shall:

(a) Establish best practice policies for the delivery of regional educational services.

(b) Establish benchmarks for education service districts that encourage improvements and that allow the education service districts to demonstrate that improvements are being made in the operation of the education service districts.

(c) Determine the direct cost of services to school districts that are assessed by education service districts.

(d) Ensure that each education service district has an annual audit of the accounts of the education service district prepared in accordance with the Municipal Audit Law, as provided in ORS 297.405 to 297.555 and 297.990, and review the audit.

(e) Recommend to the Superintendent of Public Instruction any actions to be taken regarding an education service district if the office has reason to believe that an education service district is nonstandard as provided by ORS 334.217. A recommended action under this paragraph may include conducting a performance audit of the education service district.

(f) Recommend to the Superintendent of Public Instruction any sanctions to impose on an education service district that are consistent with ORS 334.217 and recommend any statutory changes required to impose effective sanctions on education service districts.

(g) Recommend to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education any statutory or rule changes that may improve the operations or administration of education service districts.

(h) Recommend to the board of directors of an education service district or to the superintendent of an education service district any changes that may improve the operations or administration of the education service district.

(i) Recommend to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education any changes in education service district boundaries that may reduce costs and increase the quality of services provided by education service districts.

(j) Recommend to the board of directors of an education service district or to the superintendent of an education service district any changes in service delivery regions that may reduce costs and increase the quality of services provided by the education service district.

(k) Provide training and related support for boards of directors of education service districts and superintendents of education service districts.

(L) Gather information regarding the cost of services within education service districts and across education service districts, identify unusually high cost services and provide the gathered information to education service districts, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education.

(4) For the purposes of identifying the best practice policies described in subsection (3)(a) of this section and the benchmarks described in subsection (3)(b) of this section, the office may:

(a) Conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of education service districts that are identified by the director; and

(b) Conduct evaluations of the systems and procedures of education service districts identified by the director.

(5) The director may enter into contracts as necessary to perform the duties of the office specified in subsection (3) of this section.

(6) The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the director, may adopt any rules necessary for the purposes of this section.

(7) On behalf of the office, the Department of Education may accept contributions of moneys and assistance from the United States Government or its agencies or from any other source, public or private, and agree to conditions placed on the moneys not inconsistent with the duties of the office. All moneys received by the department under this subsection shall be deposited into the Regional Educational Services Account established by ORS 334.820 to be used for the purposes of carrying out the duties of the office. [2011 c.705 31]