Shermans Dale, Pennsylvania

Mt. Gilead United Methodist Church is located here. It is also the site of a former Presbyterian church with a pioneer graveyard. Although this church is no longer used for weekly services, it is maintained for use for weddings and funerals.

Map of Perry County, Pennsylvania School Districts

Residents of Shermans Dale may attend the local, public schools operated by West Perry School District which provides full day kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2013, the District's enrollment declined to 2,482 students. In 2016, West Perry School District ranked 331st out of 493 public school districts for academic achievement of its pupils, by the Pittsburgh Business Times.[2] The 2016 graduation rate was just 86%.[3]

High School students and adults can attend the publicly funded Cumberland Perry Area Vocational Technical School which is located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. CPAVTA provides students training in the: construction and mechanical trades, culinary arts, health aids, computer technical careers and other fields. Students may also attend Capital Area Online Learning Association (CAOLA) online education programs. The service is operated by the Capital Area Intermediate Unit 15.

Shermans Dale residents may also apply to attend any of the Commonwealth's 13 public cyber charter schools (in 2015) at no additional cost to the parents. The resident’s public school district is required to pay the charter school and cyber charter school tuition for residents who attend these public schools.[4][5] By Commonwealth law, if the District provides transportation for its own students, then the District must provide transportation to any school that lies within 10 miles of its borders. Residents may also seek admission for their school aged child to any other public school district. When accepted for admission, the student's parents are responsible for paying an annual tuition fee set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In 2015, the tuition fees for West Perry School District were: Elementary School - $7,145.66, High School - $9,606.12.[6]

Capital Area Intermediate Unit #15 provides a wide variety of services to children living in its region which includes Shermans Dale. Early screening, special education services, speech and hearing therapy and many other services like driver education are available. Services for children during the preschool years are provided without cost to their families when the child is determined to meet eligibility requirements.

Libraries

Community members have access to the Community Library of West Perry County in Blain; the Bloomfield Public Library which is located in New Bloomfield and to the statewide PA Power Library which is an online library funded with tax dollars through the state's annual education budget.

School aged residents may also attend the Capital Area School for the Arts which is an arts charter school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Armstrong Valley Christian School is one of several private schools that are also available to the Township's residents.

Community college

Shermans Dale residents have access to Harrisburg Area Community College. People residing in the community fund HACC through an annual payment made by West Perry School District.[7] Twenty two local public school districts are required to contribute annually to HACC, regardless of whether any residents are attending the college. Full-time students from these districts, who attend HACC, pay $1,674 for 12 credit hours.

• William Bigler (1814-1880), 12th Governor of Pennsylvania and a U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania
• Alexander Kelly McClure (1828-1909), Pennsylvania State Senator for the 18th district in 1861 and the 4th district in 1873