DOVER – Race to the Top has forced officials in Delaware's schools, school districts and even counties to race to the discussion table.
Thanks to the federal grant that will bring about $100 million to the First State over the next four years, many entities that rarely combine resources are now talking regularly and working together – whether it’s districts sharing the cost of professional development or teachers coming together for a shared planning period.
"Communication is improving," said Education Secretary Lillian Lowery at a Department of Education FY2012 Budget Hearing on Tuesday. “We’re making progress in districts working together,” said Lowery. “Before, contiguous districts didn’t know what the other district was doing. They didn’t talk together.”
Not only are districts coming together to discuss cost savings, but counties are as well. They now have regular meetings to talk about how they can work together to save money, Lowery said. That progress may result in savings as districts pool their resources and share their expertise. But for now, all of the gains in savings have not been enough to keep the Department of Education budget steady. On Tuesday, Lowery asked for a .9 percent budget increase over FY2011.
Delaware’s Department of Education is working with other recipients of the Race to the Top funding to pool resources and share knowledge. “We are really sharing with each other, not reinventing the wheel,” Lowery said.
Lowery said all the sharing and cooperation should yield measurable dividends by 2014, when Race to the Top funding ends. “The plan is to have expected outcomes, regardless of the demographic [make up of the district],” Lowery said. “There will be significant outcomes by 2014.”
The Department of Education itself is working to pool resources and maximize the work of each staff member. In FY2011 DOE authorized 257.7 positions, 10 of which were funded entirely by the Federal Race to the Top program. A reorganization of the DOE in FY2010 combined four branches in the department into three. In FY2009 the DOE eliminated 18.2 full time positions, through attrition and by consolidating employee responsibilities.
Some of the requested budget increase comes from additional projected operating costs as the state works to the implement the Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System ($4,800,000). The Department of Education also projects a 100 unit growth ($6,647,200) to handle approximately 1700 more students. “There has been population growth,” said Lowery.
The Department of Education now provides services to 127,944 children through the public school system and 559 children who reside on Dover Air Force Base. Population growth and vast differences among Delaware's demographics and topographies has made the perennial challenge of transportation more costly. “It’s very frustrating,” said Ann Visalli, Director of the Office of Management and Budget. “It’s a source of increasing expenditures.”
Visalli urged local agencies to find “creative and innovative” ways to hold down transportation costs. Although she says a state-wide transportation policy may eventually be needed, she cautions that a one size fits all policy would affect each district differently. “A single policy created at a high level is going to be a challenge,” she said.
