NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release
	Contact: Mark Peterson Public Information Officer Utah State Office of Education 801-538-7763 mark.peterson@schools.utah.gov Rich Olsen Utah Interactive 801 983-0275 richo@nicusa.com

SALT LAKE CITY – October 7, 2008 – The Utah State Office of Education’s groundbreaking online Education Services Suite was recently awarded a national Digital Education Achievement Award by the Centers for Digital Government and Education. The Education Service Suite is a database-driven online application that allows educators to renew their professional licenses.

With the new service, teachers can complete the entire renewal process instantly online and print their renewed certificate directly from their home computer. The service is available through the state’s official Web site at https://secure.utah.gov/elr/welcome.html. In the first year the service was offered, 90% of eligible educators renewed their licenses online.

The Digital Education Achievement Awards are administered by the Centers for Digital Government and Education and recognize services that enhance the ways constituents do business online. The Centers for Digital Government and Education are national research and advisory institutes on information technology policies and best practices in government and education.

“The Education Services Suite is the perfect example of innovative technology,” said Sydnee Dickson, Director of Educator Quality and Licensing for the state of Utah. “We are proud to win this award and especially pleased that so many educators are using the online services to renew their licenses.”

The Education Services Suite system employs industry standards methods for ensuring usability, accessibility, security, and privacy. Educators were consulted for the development of the service, which helped ensure the final product would serve the education community effectively. With an intuitive layout, users can complete one of the six following services:

• Background Check
• Print Duplicate License
• License Renewal (Level 2, Level 3)
• Student Licenses
• University Recommendations
• Upgrade to Level 2

The new online service dramatically reduces the time, paperwork, and potential for errors with educator licensing – which saves local and state governments time and money. It is estimated that the service saves the Utah State Office of Education a minimum of one full-time employee. It also saves teachers time, which translates to time and cost efficiencies for school districts throughout the state.

About Utah.gov
Utah.gov is the state of Utah’s official Web portal (http://www.utah.gov). It was ranked first in the nation in the Center for Digital Government’s 2007 Best of the Web competition and won first place in Brown University’s 2005 survey of state and federal Web sites. The portal is a collaborative effort between the state of Utah and Utah Interactive, LLC. It was built and is marketed, operated, and maintained by Utah Interactive, a Salt Lake City-based limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV).

About NIC
NIC manages more eGovernment services than any provider in the world. The company helps government communicate more effectively with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,900 state and local agencies that serve more than 69 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at www.nicusa.com.

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