In Pennsylvania, intermediate units are regional educational service agencies, established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Intermediate units are public entities and serve a given geographic area's educational needs and function as a step of organization above that of a public school district, but below that of the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Description
editGovernance
editIntermediate units are governed by a board of directors; each member is also a member of a local school board from the IU's region. Board members are elected by school directors of all the region's school districts for three-year terms that begin July 1.[1] IU board members have a separate fiduciary responsibility to the IU and are not intended to be representatives of their home districts. They are funded by school districts, state and federal program specific funding and grants. IUs do not have the power to tax. Annual budgets of the intermediate unit must be approved by a majority of the school boards in the districts it serves.
Creation
editThe Pennsylvania state system of intermediate units (IU) was created in 1970, as part of the public school system of the Commonwealth, replacing the 67 county superintendents of schools offices which had existed since the 1850s. Act 102 created the boundaries for each IU, assigned every school district to an intermediate unit, established a system of governance and a mechanism for funding IUs, and identified a broad array of services IUs may provide. These include: curriculum development and instructional improvement; educational planning services; instructional materials services (technology); continuing professional development; pupil personnel services; management services; and, state and federal agency liaison services.[2]
List of intermediate units
editThere are twenty-nine intermediate units in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, each serving a given region:
- IU1 - Intermediate Unit 1 (Fayette, Greene, and Washington Counties) IU 1 Web site Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
- IU2 - Pittsburgh-Mt. Oliver Intermediate Unit (Pittsburgh Public Schools)
- IU3 - Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) (Allegheny County, except Pittsburgh Public Schools) IU 3 Web site
- IU4 - Midwestern Intermediate Unit (MIU) (Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer Counties) IU 4 Web site
- IU5 - Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit (Crawford, Erie, and Warren Counties) IU 5 Web site
- IU6 - Riverview Intermediate Unit (Clarion, Forest, Jefferson, and Venango Counties) IU 6 Web site
- IU7 - Westmoreland Intermediate Unit (Westmoreland County) IU 7 Web site
- IU8 - Appalachia Intermediate Unit (Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and Somerset Counties) IU 8 Web site
- IU9 - Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit (Cameron, Elk, McKean, and Potter Counties) IU 9 Web site
- IU10 - Central Intermediate Unit (CIU) (Centre, Clearfield, and Clinton Counties) IU 10 Web site
- IU11 - Tuscarora Intermediate Unit (TIU) (Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, and Mifflin Counties) IU 11 Web site
- IU12 - Lincoln Intermediate Unit (Adams, Franklin, and York Counties) IU 12 Web site
- IU13 - Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (Lancaster and Lebanon Counties) IU 13 Web site
- IU14 - Berks County Intermediate Unit (Berks County) IU 14 Web site
- IU15 - Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) (Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties) IU 15 Web site
- IU16 - Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, and Union Counties) IU 16 Web site
- IU17 - Bradford Lycoming Sullivan Tioga Intermediate Unit (BLaST) (Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, and Tioga Counties) IU 17 Web site
- IU18 - Luzerne Intermediate Unit (Luzerne and Wyoming Counties) IU 18 Web site
- IU19 - Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit (Lackawanna, Susquehanna, and Wayne Counties) IU 19 Web site
- IU20 - Colonial Intermediate Unit (Monroe, Northampton, and Pike Counties) IU 20 Web site
- IU21 - Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit (Carbon and Lehigh Counties) IU 21 Web site
- IU22 - Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks County) IU 22 Web site
- IU23 - Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (Montgomery County) IU 23 Web site
- IU24 - Chester County Intermediate Unit (Chester County) IU 24 Web site
- IU25 - Delaware County Intermediate Unit (Delaware County) IU 25 Web site
- IU26 - Philadelphia Intermediate Unit (Philadelphia Public Schools) IU 26 Web site
- IU27 - Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit (Beaver County) IU 27 Web site
- IU28 - Armstrong-Indiana Intermediate Unit (ARIN) (Armstrong and Indiana Counties) IU 28 Web site
- IU29 - Schuylkill Intermediate Unit (Schuylkill County) IU 29 Web site