The following was compiled by staff members at Rodel, a nonprofit organization that partners with Delawareans and educational innovators from around the world to transform public education in the First State.
Another half of a legislative session is in the books for Delaware. This year — the penultimate one in Gov. John Carney’s second term — lawmakers affirmed the governor’s budget, while giving special focus to supporting teachers, families with young children and early learning programs.
As educators continue to take on more responsibilities to keep students on track, Delaware legislators introduced a slate of bills and budget items aimed at supporting their workforce — with better pay and mental health resources.
Overall, Delaware saw its state education budget increase 8.5% from fiscal year 2023 to ’24 ($1,832,407,800 to $1,985,539,400), with increases going to support early childhood initiatives and much more. However, revenue forecasters were less positive with their outlook for the state budget in future years. Due partly to an ongoing commitment to the state’s stabilization fund, lawmakers did not fund many other initiatives beyond what was found in the governor’s recommended budget last winter.
Investments in early childhood education
When a survey of hundreds of Delaware caregivers revealed that finding care for children under 5 is difficult, costly and burdensome for families — advocates hoped for continued investments and improvements in early education. Gov. Carney continued his commitment to making early care a priority for his administration, with three areas of the budget receiving additional funding.
While advocates like First State Pre-K fought for geographic parity this session, providers in Kent and Sussex counties still receive around 27% less in purchase of care funding per child than New Castle County providers. And, though special education rates went up about 16% statewide, child care settings receive on average only 7% more to serve children with special needs, while K-12 schools receive up to 50% more. That said, there is still work underway to ensure families and child care programs can receive special education funding through a transparent, simple process to ensure children receive support services.
Despite Delaware’s progress, staffing shortages and growing costs have contributed to fewer openings statewide and fewer children being served by state funding (only about 1 in 7 under age 5). Why? Due to historic underinvestment, providers are offering fewer purchase of care-funded seats.
State invests in educators
Gov. Carney led the effort to secure a 9% salary increase for teachers in the final budget (the 9% covers the jump in the state share of teacher salaries; about 30%-40% of teachers’ salaries are covered by local district revenue).
Delaware currently ranks behind all of our neighboring states in both starting salaries and average salaries for teachers. We currently pay our starting teachers an average of $6,000 less than Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, and are in the position to get even further behind. By 2026, all Maryland school districts will be required to offer a minimum of $60,000 starting salary for all teachers. In average salaries, our state is $9,000 below surrounding states. This issue has also been a focus of groups like the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity for several years. With this increase, Delaware’s starting salary will be roughly $46,800.
Another path to teaching
House Bill 138 establishes a Delaware Educator Apprenticeship Program to be developed by the Department of Education.
In apprenticeship programs, aspiring educators will find themselves in high-quality, industry-driven pathways that pay them and provide them hands-on work experience. Increased wages as the candidate progresses are a foundational agreement in the apprenticeship. Candidates will be required to meet the student teaching and coursework requirements of teacher preparation in Delaware.
Teacher apprenticeships are just one piece of Delaware’s ongoing strategy to improve its teacher workforce. Legislators, district leaders and nonprofits have collaborated on this intentional, aligned effort, which also includes teacher residencies and “Grow Your Own” programs.
Progress continues on funding system
Momentum continues to grow in Delaware for an updated school-funding system. While partners like the Vision Coalition of Delaware urge stakeholders to modernize to a student-centered funding system, state officials continue to do more than is required by the high-stakes lawsuit that settled several years ago.
Gov. Carney’s Opportunity Funding initiative — which provides extra support for every multilingual learner and low-income student — will increase by $15 million, bringing the line item up to $53 million — or about $400-$500 more (4%-5% more) per student. This figure represents $3 million more than what is required by the funding lawsuit settlement.
Rolling property reassessment
HB 62 requires rolling property tax reassessment every five years, bringing it up to date with other states. Ensuring that properties are regularly reassessed enables a more sustainable, sufficient revenue and accurate funding equalization process. Conducting regular property reassessment will be a step toward creating a more equitable funding system. This is a major improvement over the current state; previously, there were no requirements for regular reassessment. However, Delaware is still behind our neighbors, and nationally, most states reassess every one to five years.
Literacy and equity as K-12 focus
With Delaware still lagging behind nationally on literacy rates — combined with the continued ripples felt by the COVID-19 pandemic — lawmakers and advocates spent considerable focus on reading, equity and learning acceleration.
Making postsecondary success attainable
As Delaware continues to venture into a new frontier for career pathways and postsecondary success, state budget writers added $5.7 million to the state’s popular Student Excellence Equals Degree and Inspire scholarships ($4 million to SEED, $1.7 million to Inspire), which provide access to Delaware Technical Community College and the University of Delaware’s Associate in Arts Program, and to Delaware State University, respectively.
As the Delaware Workforce Development Board’s recently released strategic plan points out, upwards of 60% of family-sustaining jobs are going to require more education beyond high school, making investments like these all the more important.
Meanwhile, HB 116 would require public institutions of higher learning to grant credit for Advanced Placement exam scores of 3 or higher.
Other legislation
Due to increased attention and scrutiny around the dangers of lead exposure to children, several related bills were signed this session. HB 227 makes various amendments to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act to improve compliance with its testing and reporting requirements. It also requires the Division of Public Health to share data with school nurses relating to whether an enrolled student has been screened for lead poisoning.
Senate Bill 9 creates a system by which all properties where a child who is found to have high blood lead levels lives are promptly screened for lead-based paint and, where that paint is found, treated to abate or remediate the lead-based paint.
HB 192 addresses accountability around low-performing public charter schools.
HB 3 with House Amendment 1 will provide for excused absences for a student’s mental or behavioral health and requires that any student taking more than two such absences be referred to an in-school behavioral health specialist.
HB 4, also known as Nolan’s Law, enacts a set of school policies following a traumatic event.
HB 229 removes the required window for submission of a final plan from the Redding Consortium to the state board of education and instead requires that the state board act on any plan submitted by the Redding Consortium within three months.
SB 135 streamlines the functions of the Provider Advisory Board with the Delaware Early Childhood Council — part of a continuous statewide effort to streamline and simplify the early learning ecosystem.
HB 45 clarifies that developmental screenings will not be conducted if a parent declines them or notifies the licensee that the child is already receiving early intervention or special education and related services.
SB 60 allows teachers paid absences for jury duty or when subpoenaed as a witness, while SB 61 allows teachers to use two days of accrued sick leave as personal days and extends bereavement leave.
