Chester County Intermediate Unit proposes nearly $365 million budget; Downingtown share of core costs modest
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Summary
Chester County Intermediate Unit presented a proposed FY 2025–26 budget that aggregates three major areas—core, occupational education and marketplace services—totaling about $365 million; the IU said district contributions to the core budget would not increase under the proposal and occupational-education tuition would rise about 4%.
Joe Lubitsky, director of administrative services for the Chester County Intermediate Unit, told the Downingtown Area School District board the IU is proposing about $365,000,000 in budgets for next year, spanning a core budget, occupational education and a large set of marketplace services.
"There’s been no increase in the school district's contributions next year under the proposed [core] budget," Lubitsky said, and he added the occupational education tuition rate proposal is for a 4% increase.
The proposed core budget is about $41,300,000, Lubitsky said, and Downingtown Area School District’s projected share of that core budget is approximately $94,700 next year. The IU’s occupational education budget, which supports three technical college high school campuses, is proposed at about $34,600,000; the IU estimated the per‑student cost for halftime career and technical programs would be about $11,188 if the proposal is approved. Lubitsky said Downingtown students account for significant enrollment at the Downingtown campus—"over 1,200 students"—and that a separate slide showed 357 Downingtown students in a summarized list of program enrollments.
The IU’s largest operating area is its marketplace services programs, which Lubitsky said include about 127 separate programs and have an estimated budget near $260,000,000. Across those marketplace services the IU is proposing average price increases of about 3.8–3.9% overall, Lubitsky said, and that the IU aims to keep increases at or below an annual ACWA/ACWI index.
Lubitsky described capital work under way: a 100,000 square‑foot Engle Education Center in Avon Grove that he said will open in June and a planned 87,000 square‑foot campus in the Great Valley area. He said those projects and other recent construction represent roughly $90,000,000 in investments and that the IU issued about $67,000,000 in bonds in the last two years to support capital spending.
Board members asked about capacity and geographic assignments for the new campuses; Lubitsky said geography, student need and available capacity would determine which students attend the new centers and that the Great Valley campus is being designed to serve students with significant needs aged 3–21. He also told the board the IU has been successful applying for grant funds and reported about $125,000,000 in grants year to date.
Lubitsky closed by offering to provide additional enrollment breakdowns for Downingtown and to answer follow‑up questions from district staff and board members.
