Known to be a lucrative place to engage in business and trade, the municipality of Urdaneta previously belonged to the unified division of Pangasinan.
Urdaneta reached its cityhood and officially became a component city of Pangasinan on March 21, 1998 through the enactment of RA 8480. With its own charter and fresh initiative to lift the emerging city to greater heights in terms of education, the city of Urdaneta through the Department of Education welcomed the establishments of a City Schools Division which formally inaugurated on March 20, 2003.
The original site of the Division Office of Urdaneta City when it was formally inaugurated on Mach 20, 2003 was the old PACD Building situated in a lot inside the Urdaneta City National High School campus with only a total of thirteen (13) personnel. The Interim Schools Division Superintendent then was Dr. Nicanor Salazar who was also a native and son of Urdaneta. He was the con current Schools Division Superintendent of Pangasinan II at that time. But it was Dr. Perla T. Cornel who assumed as the first Schools Division Superintendent when it was formally inaugurated and became independent from Pangasinan II.
Originally Urdaneta City Division was made up of only few employees who have taken the lead in transforming the said Department. Year 2003, Mr. Modesto Bonifacio requested a position paper with a standard staffing pattern. After how many months of waiting the said positions were approved and these are the following; 8 (eight) supervisors), 8 (eight) Education Chief Supervisors, 1 (one) dentist, dental aid, cashier, driver, personnel officer and two (2) security guards. With the approval of Executive Order 366 Rationalization Plan last 2015 of January employees staffing pattern added more employees 10 (ten) Public Schools District Supervisors, 1 (one) Education Chief Supervisor, Librarian, Book keepers, Action Data System (ADAS).
It was during the time of Mam Celia Junio Fernandez when the new building was constructed and finished. The administration building and the CID building. The main building houses the Office of the Schools Division Superintendent, Office of the Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, the Administrative Office, Budget Office, Cashier’s Office, Records Office and office of the Commission on Audit (COA). Right at the back is the Accounting Office. The Alumni Building houses the Personnel Office and the Printing Office. Another building beside it is the School Health Section and the SDO Canteen.
As of today, Urdaneta City has forty-five (45) public elementary schools, twenty-two (22) public secondary schools, one (1) state university college, seventeen (17) private elementary schools, thirteen (13) private secondary schools offering Kinder to Junior High School and thirteen (13) private secondary schools offering Kinder to Senior High School and other learning centers that cater to 20, 439 elementary, 12, 745 secondary and 8, 036 senior high school and 115 ALS learners.
At present, the SDO Urdaneta City through the leadership of Schools Division Superintendent Aguedo C. Fernandez, CESO V, continues to soar across wider horizons. Living up to its brand as the “Home of Proactive and Productive Professionals” SDO Urdaneta City fervently provides avenues for the school heads, the teachers, and the administrative staff to improve their craft and strengthen values and work ethics. By doing so, it commits to its mandate of making each learner under its care globally competent and life-skilled to be able to explore the world and secure better opportunities to serve the nation.
Urdaneta City (Pangasinan) became a separate city schools division in October 8, 2003. Prior to that, it was a part of Division of Pangasinan II.