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Possible deal to keep Statewide Autism Program at Christina School District

Delaware Public Media

A deal to keep the Statewide Autism Program with the Christina School District may be in place.

House Education Committee Chair Earl Jaques says an agreement was reached to keep the program housed at the Christina School District.

He says the Office of Management and Budget and Controller General told him it was done after a meeting with the school district Wednesday.

But a spokesman for OMB says they only updated Jaques on their progress and MAY finalize something by the end of the week. OMB Director Mike Jackson declined to answer questions about a possible agreement.

Christina School Board member John Young says the state has been inconsistent for months about whether the statewide autism program was moved to DOE or remains at Christina.

He says he’s disappointed with the state's actions.

“It’s just a bewildering, confusing sequence that had victims and in this case the victims were the parents and the employees and the administrators of the Delaware Statewide Autism Program,” he said.

He faults a lack of transparency.

“I’d like to see more transparency and more communication and I would like state officials to held accountable for sending what I would call private emails that literally caused a great deal of confusion and anxiety for people,” he said.

Young found out only last month that the state sent the Delaware Department of Education a memo last October directing it to take over management of the statewide autism program from the Christina School District.

But Jackson said Christina continued running the program after that because the change never went to the State Board of Education for approval.

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