Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE)
The RCOE or Riverside County Office of Education happens to serve as the intermediary between the local school districts and the Department of Education in California. This office helps to provide a big range of administrative and educational support services to over 20 school districts and more than 420,000 students within Riverside County.
The RCOE has three parts which are the elected County Superintendent which has a 4-year term, 7 elected members for the County board of education which have a 4 year term, and the employees of this organization which are employed by the County Superintendent.
The RCOE has been serving Riverside County students for more than 120 years with over 420,000 students, this is one of the largest county office of education. There are 23 school districts within Riverside County and the districts vary in size from Corona-Norco which has more than 50,000 students to Desert Center which only has a handful.
The county offices serve 3 functions. The first is to be able to meet the needs of the students who are outside of educational programs and services within local school districts. The second is to work with the school districts to make sure that they are providing the best educational programs and services to students and keeping financially solvent during the whole process. The last is the role of Board of Education which is an appellate and policy role. There are two other roles that are played by the RCOE which is recognizing educator excellence and student achievements and providing county educational events that help to promote a focus on the success of every single student.
The RCOE has over 1900 employees working in six divisions and within the superintendent’s office. The six divisions are:
- Division of Children and Family Services
- Division of Educational Services
- Division of Student Programs and Services
- Division of Personnel Services
- Division of Educational Leadership Services
- Division of Administration and Business Services
Due to the fact that the county is so large, both regional offices which are located within Indio and Murrieta are staffed with employees from many of these divisions.
The well-known reported history of Riverside County schools starts with the foundation of the province and subsequent arrangement of Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Lyman Gregory in 1893. Gregory’s office was situated in the first courthouse at the intersection of Lime and 8th Street in downtown Riverside. During1903, another County Courthouse on Main Street was assembled. Around then, the superintendence remained a chosen position, yet the workplace was a piece of province government until the point that it increased fiscal independence during 1975.
The RCOE has grown to well over 2000 employees working in various offices within Indio, Riverside and Murrieta and they have a budget of around $260 million. When Kenneth Young became the Riverside County Superintendent of School the enrollment within the schools in Riverside County came to well over 405,000 students at over 400 different sites under the 23 school districts. There are well over 36,000 teachers and various employees who work within Riverside County.