When unimaginable events become a reality, such as the killings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, it leaves us questioning the very foundations of our society and human nature. We collectively shed tears for strangers and fear that the same tragic events will soon come to fruition in our own schools.
It is in these extreme circumstances of grief for our neighbors and emotional toil within ourselves that we must come together, not divide ourselves, in an attempt to create safer schools and communities for our families.
Unilateral declarations and decision-making are the first signals of division and, unfortunately, have been the cornerstone of Delaware policymaking over the past two years particularly. Just days after the horrific shooting in Texas, the governor’s office announced six pieces of legislation to challenge the United States and Delaware Constitutions without discussion across the legislative branch or even informing all members before the release of the information. In the governor’s own press release, it states that this package “ensures swift passage” of legislation. This is a signal to lawmakers to not consider public input, as the plan rushes the first two pieces of legislation.
We all are concerned about the rising violence in our schools and in our streets, yet the message here with unilateral declarations is “Do not worry. We know what is best for you and your family.”
Although authors of these bills have stated that they will create safer schools, past actions of the very same people have shown that school safety has not been a priority. When Senate Bill 215 called for $65 million for school spending to secure schools in 2018, it was not supported by the majority of lawmakers. This legislation would have provided public schools with the ability to fund comprehensive school-safety plans, including the installation of bullet-resistant glass and staffing of two individuals to provide security services. Instead, the General Assembly created the School Safety Fund, which received $5 million, sending, in total, around only $44,642 per school. It has not received an allocation since then. For reference, the governor’s office allocated $669 million as part of the coronavirus-response efforts in 2021, around $2.986 million per Delaware school.
Recently, in the House Education Committee, House Bill 396 was discussed, a bill that would limit the Delaware attorney general’s ability to send a letter to public schools when students break the law off of school grounds. If this bill becomes a law, it would leave principals, teachers and other students vulnerable and ignorant to some occasions when an individual in their classroom has committed crimes and potentially put the school in danger.
Leading from crisis to crisis is the mark of a struggling government, organization or business. This type of management favors unilateral decisions through the method of divisiveness, instead of leadership through bringing people together to meet similar goals. This explains why the needle has not moved for decades on high-priority areas like student literacy rates, community health and generational poverty across the state.
One suggestion that I have made to my colleagues is to use the structure of the legislative committees to seek street-level solutions to our most pressing challenges. Members should meet during the “offseason” of legislative agendas, alongside the public, to identify the ground-level challenges and how they can be met. Each committee has a unique focus, from education to health care to economic development to housing. The work done can help set the tone for the next session. In the absence of this, we will once again leave the next year’s legislative focus up to political parties and national agendas, instead of the people of Delaware.
When looking to build for the future, you plan with the investors, measure the results and improve the work to gain better outcomes. What we are seeing too many times in state government is unilateral decision-making and reactionary policies, no measuring of whether that policy is helping or hurting those it is designed to serve and resistance to change even when residents ask for something better.
We must look to build a future for Delaware by planning with our residents, measuring our outcomes and improving our systems to better serve the public.
Rep. Bryan W. Shupe is a Republican who serves Milford.
