Our History
What is an Educational Service Center (ESC)?
The Summit County Educational Service Center (SCESC) was first established as
the Summit County Board of Education in 1914 when Ohio's 80th General Assembly
sanctioned the founding of a county board of education for each of the 88
counties in Ohio. The primary aim of a county office was to provide
administrative management and leadership to local school districts, the majority
of which were small.
In 1995 Ohio's state legislators authorized that all county boards of education
be called "education service centers." This same provision also changed the name
of our board of education to "governing board." This governing board is elected
by the voters of all the local school districts.
How are ESCs funded?
Funding of these centers comes primarily through the State of Ohio in its
reimbursement of supervisory units, psychological units, and per-pupil subsidy.
Another source is through local school district and contracted city districts
funds based on the Average Daily Membership (ADM) of each district. The money is
derived from the State Foundation program. Further funding comes through grants
and contracted services.
What does an ESC do?
County offices, as intermediate agents between the State Department of Education
and the districts, have moved from being primarily administrative and regulatory
agencies for local school districts to providers of necessary services and
consultation for both local and city school districts. They provide effective,
efficient, and economical services which districts might have difficulty
providing on their own or work with districts on collaborations and consortiums
that help provide needed services. Some county offices have joined together so
that today there are 66 educational service centers.
This organization is dedicated to providing administrative, curricular,
instructional, instructional technology, pupil personnel, and professional
development services to the schools of Summit County and assisting them in
reaching their educational objectives. These services are primarily designed to
assist boards of education, administrators, teachers, and other staff members so
that they may provide engaging work to students and services that help students
learn.
About the Summit County ESC
First located at 482 Grant Street in Akron, the Summit County Board of Education
relocated in August, 1992, to its present location at 420 Washington Avenue in
Cuyahoga Falls. This move nearly tripled the amount of available floor space and
provided SCESC with the ability to arrange more workshops and provide meeting
space for districts.
SCESC staff are dedicated to providing leadership in the areas of staff
development, in-service, technological developments, student development,
curriculum and instruction development, current educational processes, legal
developments, and fiscal developments.
© SCESC, 1999
Last Revised June 10, 1999