PeopleAdmin, a cloud-based service that seeks to help K-12 districts with hiring and managing personnel decisions, is buying SearchSoft Solutions, in a pairing of two big players in education human-resources management.

In acquiring SearchSoft Solutions, which is based in Indianapolis and serves 1,700 school clients across 32 states, PeopleAdmin will now do business in about 4,000 school districts in the United States, the company estimates.

PeopleAdmin, with headquarters in Austin, helps K-12 systems, as well as colleges and other clients, manage a range of human resources, such as hiring and talent development, through its software. 

In a statement on the deal, announced Thursday, PeopleAdmin CEO Kermit Randa said the company’s expanding reach gives it a “bird’s-eye view of K-20 education,” which offers it an advantage in the market.

“[W]e know what school administrators need at any educational level when it comes to hiring and retaining talent, which allows us to deliver solutions tailored to evolving needs,” Randa asserted.

The acquisition will bring SearchSoft’s cloud-based tracking of job applicants, performance evaluation, and teacher evaluation tools to PeopleAdmin’s own cloud-based systems. The two companies’ products and services will be marketed under the PeopleAdmin brand, the companies said in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier this year, PeopleAdmin joined with Netchemia, another provider of talent-management services, which combined under the PeopleAdmin name.

Netchemia is the creator of TalentEd, a cloud-based system for job applications, performance evaluations, and other functions; as well as SchoolSpring, a career-management platform.