Why Should Delaware Care?
Two months ago, the Delmar School District indicated it may go out for a referendum, asking residents to raise their property taxes to help the southern Delaware district deal with overcrowding, offer teacher and staff salary increases, and offset inflation-induced cost increases. But a decision to postpone that referendum until 2027 could mean reductions and cuts for a district that has already expressed financial concerns.
Earlier this month, the Delmar School District Board of Education announced it would not hold a referendum until 2027, which could raise the district’s school tax rate to pay for things like educator raises.
During a Dec. 9 meeting, Board President Raymond Vincent noted the district’s “very real financial pressures,” saying the need for an operational referendum is real. But the timing, he said, is not right to ask residents to raise their own taxes.
Vincent cited the overlapping unanswered questions that could affect the way schools in Delaware receive money, from the Public Education Funding Commission’s recommendation to approve a new funding model to the likelihood of updated property tax legislation coming from the General Assembly next year in the wake of its recent reassessment committee hearings.
“Any one of these outcomes could materially affect our local revenue picture, and, together, they create a level of uncertainty that makes it difficult to ask our community to make a long-term financial commitment right now,” Vincent said during the meeting.
He also said postponing the referendum will financially impact the district, and leaders “will need to make difficult decisions in the short term.”
Those decisions, Vincent said, could include “delaying projects, reducing or phasing certain initiatives, [and] identifying cuts where necessary.”
Just one month ago, then-Superintendent Andrew O’Neal outlined what would be at stake should residents fail to pass a referendum.
“We may have to reduce staff, programs, postpone essential repairs, and accept our students will not have access to safe, modern learning environments that they deserve,” O’Neal said during a Nov. 6 board meeting.
He pointed toward overcrowding, teacher and staff salary increases, and inflation-induced cost increases as reasons for needing to increase taxes.
But O’Neal was notably absent from the Dec. 9 board meeting and subsequent referendum conversations.
Less than 12 hours before the meeting, the district updated its agenda to remove O’Neal from its reports section and added an item to appoint an interim superintendent.
Its original agenda, published on Dec. 2, did not include the item to replace O’Neal and listed him in the reports section.
In a statement to the Laurel Star, O’Neal acknowledged his departure and said he asked the board not to extend his contract beyond June 30, 2026.
“I believe everyone needs to know when it is time to move on, to seek new challenges and let new people with new ideas have a chance,” O’Neal said in the statement. “For me, that time is now.”
The statement did not specify why O’Neal departed from the district before his contract expires on June 30.
Neither O’Neal, nor members of the Delmar Board of Education, responded to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment regarding the resignation.
