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.
Intermediate 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. 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.
The 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.
There 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 siteIU2 - Pittsburgh-Mt. Oliver Intermediate Unit (Pittsburgh Public Schools)IU3 - Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) (Allegheny County, except Pittsburgh Public Schools) IU 3 Web siteIU4 - Midwestern Intermediate Unit (MIU) (Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer Counties) IU 4 Web siteIU5 - Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit (Crawford, Erie, and Warren Counties) IU 5 Web siteIU6 - Riverview Intermediate Unit (Clarion, Forest, Jefferson, and Venango Counties) IU 6 Web siteIU7 - Westmoreland Intermediate Unit (Westmoreland County) IU 7 Web siteIU8 - Appalachia Intermediate Unit (Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and Somerset Counties) IU 8 Web siteIU9 - Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit (Cameron, Elk, McKean, and Potter Counties) IU 9 Web siteIU10 - Central Intermediate Unit (CIU) (Centre, Clearfield, and Clinton Counties) IU 10 Web siteIU11 - Tuscarora Intermediate Unit (TIU) (Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, and Mifflin Counties) IU 11 Web siteIU12 - Lincoln Intermediate Unit (Adams, Franklin, and York Counties) IU 12 Web siteIU13 - Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit (Lancaster and Lebanon Counties) IU 13 Web siteIU14 - Berks County Intermediate Unit (Berks County) IU 14 Web siteIU15 - Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) (Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties) IU 15 Web siteIU16 - Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, and Union Counties) IU 16 Web siteIU17 - Bradford Lycoming Sullivan Tioga Intermediate Unit (BLaST) (Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, and Tioga Counties) IU 17 Web siteIU18 - Luzerne Intermediate Unit (Luzerne and Wyoming Counties) IU 18 Web siteIU19 - Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit (Lackwanna, Susquehanna, and Wayne Counties) IU 19 Web siteIU20 - Colonial Intermediate Unit (Monroe, Northampton, and Pike Counties) IU 20 Web siteIU21 - Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit (Carbon and Lehigh Counties) IU 21 Web siteIU22 - Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks County) IU 22 Web siteIU23 - Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (Montgomery County) IU 23 Web siteIU24 - Chester County Intermediate Unit (Chester County) IU 24 Web siteIU25 - Delaware County Intermediate Unit (Delaware County) IU 25 Web siteIU26 - Philadelphia Intermediate Unit (Philadelphia Public Schools)IU27 - Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit (Beaver County) IU 27 Web siteIU28 - Armstrong-Indiana Intermediate Unit (ARIN) (Armstrong and Indiana Counties) IU 28 Web siteIU29 - Schuylkill Intermediate Unit (Schuylkill County) IU 29 Web site