The Department of Education appeared before lawmakers Wednesday to outline its $1.9 billion budget request a roughly 9 percent increase over the previous year.
The increase is driven by Gov. John Carney’s proposal to offer 9 percent pay raises to all public school teachers, along with 3 percent raises to other school staff.
But at a Wednesday budget hearing, some lawmakers – along with unions representing custodial staff and bus drivers – argued the 9 percent raises should go to all school staff.
Education Secretary Mark Holodick explained a core goal next year is to reduce class sizes and caseloads to help teachers, support staff and students recover from the learning loss during the pandemic. And Holodick revealed chronic student absences continue to rise.
"For comparison, the percent of students chronically absent increased from 16.6 percent in 2017 to 25.72 percent last school year," he told lawmakers on Wednesday.
DOE plans to continue and expand supplemental summer education programs to help students make up for lost time, though those programs were poorly attended in 2022.
Some lawmakers pushed back on plans to invest roughly $30 million in new support staff – namely mental health professionals – arguing those dollars should go to reduce class sizes and improve educational outcomes.
DOE also highlighted a plan to double spending on its Early Childhood Assistance Program, which offers early childhood education support for extremely low-income children. The increased funding would enable privately-run facilities to participate in the program, but Joint Finance Committee Vice Chair Trey Paradee wonders whether those privately-run facilities – which can already receive public dollars through the state’s purchase of care program – are reliable enough to merit greater access to state funding.
"We’ve been giving them double-digit increases [in purchase of care rates] for years now and we’re not seeing the needle move when it comes to third-grade math and reading scores," he said.
Associate Secretary for Early Childhood Support Caitlin Gleason assured JFC that any private facility participating in the Early Childhood Assistance Program would be contractually bound to share data on student progress – and to pay wages competitive with local school districts.
