Why Should Delaware Care?
Each year, the state legislature has an opportunity to reassess and improve its public education system through new bills. This year, lawmakers saw a heavy focus on boards of education and school meals.
Lawmakers passed multiple education bills by the time the legislative session came to an end early Tuesday morning, including ones that mandate free school breakfasts, that impose new requirements on boards of education, and appropriate more dollars for school construction.
Among the bills is one that could determine whether a controversial Christina School Board member is allowed to vote for the board’s next president.
Here’s a look at Delaware education bills that have passed through the General Assembly this year.
Free school breakfasts for all students
In March, House Bill 91 was introduced by Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) to extend free meal eligibility to students whose families earn up to 225% of the federal poverty limit.
In June, HB 91 was amended from a bill that would expand free school lunches and breakfasts to students from poor and middle-class households, to one that focuses solely on free breakfasts for all kids.
During a House Appropriations Committee meeting earlier this month, school meal advocate Lisa Quigley testified that free school breakfasts result in healthier kids, better attendance, and higher test scores.
Quigley works for an entity called Tusk Philanthropies, which is related to the political marketing company Tusk Strategies – a company that deployed more than $1 million in political spending last year to benefit Gov. Meyer.
The bill passed through the full Senate on Monday and now awaits Meyer’s signature.
Reform for boards of education
In March, a package of five education bills that would mandate stronger transparency and oversight rules on Delaware school boards was introduced.
Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Bear) introduced two pieces of legislation in response to Christina Board of Education Member Naveed Baqir’s physical absence from his school district.
Baqir, who represents the Newark area of the school district, has not attended a board meeting in person in 16 months, but has often joined remotely while reportedly living in Pakistan.
Last week, House Bill 82, which would require school board members to live within their district’s footprint for at least 75% of a given year, was amended by the Senate and needed to be passed again by the House of Representatives on Monday.
On Thursday, Christina Board Member Doug Manley told Spotlight Delaware that he has “tried to have some people make sure that [the governor] has been prepped” about what he said was the bill’s importance.
HB 82 passed the full House again on Monday, and it was signed into law by Gov. Matt Meyer on Tuesday.
Three other bills in that package would limit remote attendance for board members at meetings to certain circumstances, strengthen background checks for appointed board members, and require school boards to establish methods for allowing the community to participate remotely.
Each of those bills has now passed through the General Assembly and awaits Meyer’s signature.
Background checks for private schools
House Bill 47 would remove the exemptions that allow private schools and youth camps to use a name-based, rather than fingerprint-based, background check, or opt to not hold background checks at all.
In January, Justin Lee Smith, then-head of the St. Anne’s Episcopal School in Middletown, was charged with 25 counts of felony dealing in child pornography.
Smith had a controversial tenure at his previous school in Louisiana before coming to Delaware, after he sent an email to parents that included a porn actor’s name and the word “threesome,’’ according to a WHYY report that cited emails obtained by the news outlet.
The same WHYY report said Smith had an affair with a female staff member, among other accusations.
Some parents questioned how Smith was hired after these incidents in Louisiana.
This bill will be in effect once signed into law by Meyer.
School construction and impact fees
For the past year, public education officials in Sussex County have repeatedly called for more money to pay for school construction projects.
State lawmakers have offered their response with a bill that would allow the county to charge new fees on building permits and then direct the money toward school construction projects.
The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 176 on Monday, and the bill will take effect once signed into law by Meyer. After it’s signed, the county would be able to charge its own impact fee for schools, like Kent County.
The bond bill, which passed through the full Senate on Monday after previously being blocked by Republican lawmakers, also aimed to address concerns with school construction by requiring the Department of Education, Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of the Controller to provide a revised framework for prioritizing school capital projects and issuing Certificates of Necessity (CN).
Doug Henry, Seaford’s supervisor of buildings and grounds, told Spotlight Delaware that in previous years, the CNs have mainly focused on overcrowding and capacity issues.
Henry is hopeful that in the future, the CNs can also help address the older buildings and their safety needs.
The bill also allocated $15 million to the Department of Education for enhanced minor capital improvements, an increase of $3 million from last year’s bond bill.
