AUGUSTA – An online purchasing system that has saved a group of Maine school systems tens of thousands of dollars in its early stages will be expanding to school systems across the state.

Following a pilot period of development, the online purchasing portal pioneered and brought to life by SAD 36 in Livermore and Livermore Falls in collaboration with a private company from New Jersey has been purchased by Tyler Technologies and is being offered around the state.

Based in Dallas, Tyler already has a strong presence in Maine, providing financial management software to more than three-quarters of Maine’s public schools through its ADS and MUNIS Solutions, and now with the purchase of the portal. The company has offices in Falmouth and Bangor and employs more than 500 people in Maine, including the chief executive officer of the company, who works out of the Falmouth office.

“The purchase of the portal at this critical juncture by a company with such strong connections to Maine’s K-12 school systems is a strong boost to this effort,” said state Education Commissioner Susan Gendron in a news release. “School systems around the state that have used this system have saved tens of thousands of dollars; they will reach hundreds of thousands a year in savings as more school systems come online.”

The system was the brainchild of Superintendent of Schools Terry Despres and SAD 36 Technology Director Colleen Akerman, who worked with a New Jersey company already doing business in Maine to put it into action. Akerman has personally worked with hundreds of vendors to get them to participate in the portal which allows schools to seek the lowest bidder on laptops, cleaning supplies, text books and hundreds of other products for which their school systems have previously paid top dollar.

Akerman said her goal is to save districts money so that more can be spent in the classroom.

The purchasing portal has already saved SAD 36 and other school districts significant sums. Schools have saved on average 10 percent on laptops, 13 percent on ink cartridges, 24 percent on furniture and equipment and 53 percent on cleaning supplies.

Gendron said the purchasing portal is an important tool for school systems as officials seek to improve efficiencies and reduce costs under the school administrative reorganization process and put the most resources possible into the classroom. The department will be funding a statewide coordinator to provide training for school districts in using the system.