Why Should Delaware Care?
On Thursday, Secretary of Education Cindy Marten announced her recommendation to revoke the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence’s charter, and State Board of Education members voted to approve her recommendation. As a result of the vote, the charter school will close its doors at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The vote marks Delaware’s first charter school closure by state regulators in a decade.
Delaware education officials announced Thursday that the state will move forward with closing a Georgetown charter school due to persistent struggles with low enrollment.
The Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence (BASSE) will close its doors at the end of this school year, leaving roughly 120 students from throughout Sussex County to find placements in new schools.
During a Thursday State Board of Education meeting, members voted to confirm Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten’s recommendation – also made that day – to close the school.
The decision came one day after BASSE students advocated for their future by holding a moment of silence in support of their school. They also lined the hallway with posters that said “We are BASSE strong,” and “Let us learn at BASSE.”
During the Thursday meeting, Marten cited concerns relating to enrollment and economic viability at the school. In her comments made at the meeting, she referenced a 2025 audit of the school, which stated that “auditors were unable to obtain sufficient information to assess the school’s financial condition.”
Also during the meeting, State Board of Education Vice President Deborah Stevens noted BASSE staff and families had passionately fought for their school’s survival. Still, she said the reality is that Delaware’s public education funding formula relies on the number of students enrolled in a school.
“When there is a lack of students, there’s also a lack of funding, and it really does put a school in jeopardy as a result,” she said.
Speaking during the meeting’s public comment period, BASSE Board of Education Secretary Katherine Cauley noted that Marten’s December announcement of a state investigation into the school came just as prospective students were sending in applications for attendance the following year.
She indicated that the timing of the announcement amounted to state officials not giving the schools “a fair chance” to boost its enrollment.
During a February meeting between BASSE and Delaware’s Charter School Accountability Committee, school officials also argued that Marten’s announcement caused some parents to feel uncertain about their kids’ future at the school.
Named after the prominent civil rights attorney who was born in nearby Milton, the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence was founded in 2018.
The first to close in seven years
Shortly after the announcement of the closure on Thursday, BASSE released a statement calling the decision troubling, “given that the Secretary has never visited the school or spoken directly with its leadership.”
The decision marks the first Delaware charter school closure in seven years and the first to be closed by state regulators in a decade. It also leaves Sussex County with just two charter schools, compared to six in Kent County and 15 in New Castle County.
In 2016, the state Board of Education revoked the charter of the Delaware STEM Academy. In recent years, most troubled charter schools have voluntarily closed, rather than face a forced closure.
Charter schools are publicly funded but independently operated by their own board of directors. They are not eligible to receive taxpayer dollars for facilities and capital projects, but do receive state funding for each enrolled student.
The tuition-free schools feature specialized missions or academic curricula that differ from traditional public schools, and that requires them to maintain certain enrollment levels and reporting duties to the state Department of Education, which issues their founding charters.
‘We are BASSE strong’
While BASSE will close largely because of low enrollment, many students and parents told Spotlight Delaware on Wednesday that they value the school because of its small learning environment, which they say has benefited students’ learning outcomes.
BASSE is made up of students from throughout Sussex County, where many school districts grapple with overcrowded schools.
One eighth-grade student named Bella said the small-school environment has helped her improve her reading, writing, and public speaking skills because she gets more quality time with her teachers.
Bella previously attended the Laurel School District, which is at 76% capacity, according to the Delaware Department of Education.
Bella said she wants to become a special education teacher when she grows up, and believes that the tight-knit community at BASSE has helped show her “what it actually takes to be a spec ed teacher.”
BASSE special education teacher Sherri Webster, who started working at the school at the end of September, also said the school’s small environment helps her develop close bonds with her students.
In the past, Webster has worked at middle schools where caseloads of 50 special education students caused some to “fall through the cracks.” At BASSE, she typically works with just 18 students — less than half of her previous caseload.
Webster also said she has seen more success with her students at BASSE than anywhere else she has worked.
“Here, you’re able to really see your work and how you’re impacting these kids. It’s tremendous,” she said.
Multiple students also told Spotlight Delaware about their experiences with bullying in previous schools.
BASSE, they said, is a safe space for them.
Lizzie, a ninth grader, said she was bullied at two previous schools before coming to BASSE midway through the 2024-25 school year. She called the charter school her “last hope.”
Ultimately, she met another ninth grader, Maddie, who she says has become “like a sister.”
Aside from close bonds, Lizzie also said BASSE is the first place where she has been able to advocate for herself in the classroom. She has an individualized education plan (IEP) to help with her speech, and says she was able to sit in on an IEP meeting with school staff and her mom — something she never had the opportunity to do before.
“I really like to advocate for myself in those types of situations,” she said. “I love to be there in the conversation.”
While parents on Wednesday did not know whether their school would reopen for the next school year, some said they knew for certain that their children would not return to traditional school districts.
Megan Wharton said her son went to a Christian school for years before deciding he wanted something different. He then enrolled in a traditional public school where he had an “awful” experience with bullies.
Wharton then enrolled her son at BASSE at the start of this school year, where his life has changed, she said. He is now even on the honor roll.
Wharton said she had been praying that BASSE would not close, and she had already enrolled her son at the charter for the next school year.
She knew one thing for sure. Her son would not go back to his regular school district for the eighth grade.
“I will do whatever I have to do … but never back into (traditional) public school,” she said.