As an outsider who lives in New Jersey and now works in Delaware, my eyes are constantly viewing everything in the First State through a comparative lens.
It’s been an interesting first month for me here in Delaware. There are many similarities, and there are many differences, too. Without rubbing New Jersey’s public school rankings in anyone’s faces (or Pennsylvania’s!), I now understand why many choose to live in these states but work in Delaware.
Let me say right off the bat how incredibly warm, friendly and receptive Delawareans have been. This type of welcome is not something anyone would ever receive in the Garden State. I feel the touches of hospitality the minute I cross over the bridge.
And let’s talk about the access everyone here enjoys to legislators, policymakers and key stakeholders; once again, not something anyone would ever experience in my home state. If you want to talk to your elected representatives in New Jersey, get in line, take a number and just maybe the legislative gatekeepers will give you five minutes of time a month out, if you’re lucky.
I have lots of insights, questions and observations as I connect dots and learn the landscape. But I must admit the biggest question that I have for every Delawarean is why do we have a school-funding formula that is 80 years old? And why hasn’t the American Civil Liberties Union’s Delawareans for Educational Opportunity vs. Gov. John Carney lawsuit led to new school-funding legislation?
As I continue to make new friends and meet new leaders, I am hoping they can help me understand. Right now, the current funding formula rewards adults in the public school system with more veteran experience based on a complex whole-number unit calculation. In other words, the schools who have more experienced teachers receive more funding than those with teachers coming right out of college.
So Jane’s education is really different if she happens to live in Christina instead of Appoquinimink. With the local funding calculations where they are, Jane strikes out again if she lives in a lower-wealth district versus a higher-wealth district. Same Jane, different house.
Do Jane’s needs figure into this funding formula? Why would we allow students with some of the greatest needs in the system, such as English language learners (ELL) and low-income students to receive instruction from less-experienced and less-funded educators?
I’ve already met lots of innovators who care deeply about changing this problem and are motivated to do so. As an outsider, layering new ideas to solve old problems on top of a formula from the World War II era cannot work.
In the First State, 84% of Black students are not proficient in reading by fourth grade, and 83% of low-income students are not proficient in reading by fourth grade. Delaware is ranked 37th in the nation for its public schools, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
This is a crisis, and I am trying to figure out why more Delawareans haven’t been activated to catalyze radical change — yet.
Liz Parlett Butcher is the director of communications for First State Educate.
