EDUCATION
Public Schools
Sixteen school districts provide free public education to more than 68,000 young people in Lancaster County. The districts range in student population from just under 1,500 in Columbia to more than 11,000 in Lancaster, with the average about 4,200.
The districts provide education in 125 buildings, including 83 elementary schools, one primary and two intermediate schools, one sixth grade building, 16 middle schools, and four junior and 17 senior high schools.
For students with special needs, IU13 has developed the Community Schools Program. Located in Community School South (Lancaster City), East (Ephrata), and West (Manheim), the program serves youngsters whose behavioral, emotional, or academic needs cannot be met in the traditional classroom setting. There is also an additional classroom for students who violate the violence, weapons, or drug codes. The schools accommodate students from grades six through 12 who are referred from the area schools; classes are limited to 15 middle school or 20 high school students who stay with the same teacher and concentrate on the four basic subjects. Lancaster Academy, which meets at Park City in Lancaster, offers three sessions a day for students referred from the school districts because they are deemed at risk for dropping out of school, often due to home or work responsibilities. Students who graduate receive a Lancaster Academy high school diploma.
Each school district is governed by a nine-member board of directors, elected by district voters in odd-numbered years for overlapping four-year terms. Each board, within broad general regulations of the State Board of Education and the school laws of Pennsylvania, establishes the educational policies of its district.
The local board annually considers the coming year’s education program, plans a budget to operate the program, and levies taxes to finance those items not reimbursed by the state or national government.
Since 1971, Lancaster and Lebanon Counties have been served jointly by the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, which acts as liaison between local school districts and the state Department of Education.
I.U. 13 provides teacher and staff workshops and training programs, joint purchasing, educational data processing, adult basic and workforce education, a computer consortium, services to 45 nonpublic schools, programs for the visually and hearing impaired, the mentally gifted and the physically and mentally challenged.
The executive director of the Intermediate Unit, a commissioned officer of the state, has jurisdiction over all public and private schools in the Unit in areas designated by state law, the State Board of Education, and the secretary of education.
Acting as adviser to the executive director is the Superintendent’s Council, composed of all chief school administrators within the unit. A 20-member board of directors chosen from school board directors serving the districts within the unit is the governing body.
Lancaster County vocational-technical schools, titled the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, have undergone major changes over the past few years. The three vo-tech schools, at Brownstown, Mount Joy, and Willow Street, have undergone major renovations and are now regional centers, each specializing in specific vocational areas.
Brownstown specializes in construction trades and visual communications; Mount Joy features the manufacturing and culinary arts trades; and Willow Street is the health care and trans-
portation center. The Career & Technology Center is overseen by a Joint Operating Committee comprised of school board members from the sponsoring school districts. A five-member authority offers advice on vo-tech-owned property.
In Pennsylvania, the principal sources of revenue for public schools are the real estate tax and the state subsidy; in addition, many districts impose a wage tax and a per capita tax. The state subsidy is based on the pupil load and the health of the district as determined by real estate and per capita income.
Additional aid grants are made for school building construction and for the following services, if offered: vocational curricula; driver education programs; health services (dental examinations and services of school nurses); classes for exceptional children; instruction for the home-bound; extension services in recreation and adult education; and transportation.