Chester County Intermediate Unit proposes $364 million budget; Coatesville sees tuition and service increases

Dr. George Fiore, executive director of the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU), and Joe Lubitzky, the IU's director of administrative services, presented the IU's proposed 2024–25 budgets to the Coatesville Area School District finance committee, describing a multi-part plan that totals just north of $364 million and that officials said is driven largely by growth in special-education and student-services demand.

Fiore said the IU will present four separate budgets: a core services budget that districts vote on by weighted vote, an occupational education budget that districts adopt by June 30, a marketplace budget of optional programs districts may opt into, and categorical (state and federal) budgets. He described the full proposal as “a little north of $364,000,000.”

The IU said early intervention and preschool special-education caseloads have risen sharply since COVID, with presenters citing an aggregate increase of about 1,000 preschool/early-intervention students in the region over recent months. To add capacity, presenters described two capital projects: renovation of the Fred S. Engle campus in Avon Grove (opening as the Engle Education Center in West Grove in mid‑2025) and construction of an 87,000-square-foot Child and Career Development Center in…