This session the Delaware General Assembly focused on greater funding for low-income student and English-language learners. In our partnership with Spotlight Delaware Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talks with reporter Julia Merola about the legislative efforts. The full interview can be heard on this Friday's Delmarva Today at noon on WSDL and WESM.
The battle lines over public education funding in Delaware are shifting as state lawmakers move to overhaul how local schools stay afloat. Following a past legislative session defined by tense debates over school budgets and tax hikes, new measures aim to completely reshape the first state’s financial relationship with its public school districts.
At the center of the legislative push is a shift toward a hybrid funding formula. Currently, Delaware relies on a rigid "unit count" system that ties state dollars strictly to raw enrollment numbers.
"The hybrid funding formula would kind of take that unit count and change it... [to] distribute more money to schools that have larger numbers of low-income students or English language learners," explained Spotlight Delaware reporter Julia Merola. The goal is "to make sure that they're getting the money that they need to help assist those students who might need a little more help."
The overhaul comes in the wake of a major funding lawsuit and a subsequent two-year investigation by the Public Education Funding Commission, which found massive inequities across the state.
Beyond statewide formulas, lawmakers also tackled controversial referendum reforms. Traditionally, if school district leaders needed to build new facilities or hire staff, they had to ask local residents to approve a property tax increase. However, weary voters have increasingly rejected these requests.
To give districts breathing room, a new bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokola offers a middle ground.
"That bill would really allow school districts to take up to a 2% school tax increase without going for a referendum," Merola noted, adding it provides "some sort of extra funding at times when they feel like voters might be saying no." Any increase higher than 2% must still be placed on a local ballot.
