What is a Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA)?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know! Unless you work for one of the public school systems in Newaygo County, you’re not alone. We find most residents are not sure what a RESA is or what it does, and our aim is to change that!

Michigan has 57 ISDs which were formed in 1962 when the 83 county school districts were reorganized by Public Act 190 as intermediate school districts. We are structured to provide a variety of administrative and instructional services to the local school districts in Newaygo County comprising Fremont, Grant, Hesperia, Newaygo, White Cloud and Big Jackson. The Newaygo County RESA has a Superintendent and a Board of Education which operate in much the same fashion as the local school districts. However, our RESA Board members are not elected by the public. Instead, they are chosen by the local Board of Education members from each of the school districts in the County.

The Newaygo County RESA provides many services from accounting and auditing of student enrollment numbers for each local district to the oversight of early childhood education, special education, and career-technical programs in the County. We also provide general education services for professional development, curriculum support, economic development and training, and technology services through our NCATS group. That is why we changed our name in July 2003 from Newaygo County Intermediate School District to Newaygo County RESA. We believe this better describes the breadth of services we offer our customers.

All in all, the Newaygo County RESA’s mission and purpose is still SERVICE! We serve as a liaison between the local school districts and the Michigan Department of Education and as your educational service agency “helping Newaygo County Schools help kids.”