Delaware’s Public Education Funding Commission presented a draft funding model at its meeting Monday that could give districts more flexibility.
The Commission’s goal is to have a new model in place for the 2027-2028 school year that calls for no additional state funding.
The new formula suggests consolidating funding above base funding from 20 buckets to two – operational and opportunity, according to the Learning Policy Institute senior researcher and policy analyst Mike Griffith.
And that would allow for high-needs student groups to get additional funding to help them meet grade-level expectations.
“You're moving from where you had about 5% of your funding or less being flexible to now, where you've got 30 to 35%, depending on how this comes out in the end, being flexible spending,” Griffith said. “It isn't a wholesale change of the formula, but it is a pretty, pretty big one.”
Griffith added for the first few years, state officials should review the formula every three years.
The new model would take a hybrid approach, with funding determined based on teaching units, which are already considered, and weighted student counts.
The new model would see low-income students receive $5,518 per pupil as opposed to the current $988. Multi-lingual learners also currently receive $988 per person, but that would jump to $3,842.
If put in place, that would put Delaware in line with Missouri's additional funding for MLL students. Maryland ranks above Missouri there as it has one of the most generous systems, according to Griffith.
But the model isn’t perfected yet. While it adds protections for teachers and staff, the officials behind the model don’t yet have all of the data on charter schools and vocational students for final numbers. The model presented also did not include several other funding pieces, such as transportation and equalization.
State Sen. Laura Sturgeon said she expects the Commission to meet until at least July and wants to have something for the legislature to vote on between January and June, though that will likely be closer to June.
“That would need to be added to the budget, would be the money for just starting the technical implementation, but not the actual money for the hold harmless,” Sturgeon said. “We wouldn't need that till next budget year.”
The Commission previously agreed that no districts would receive less money than they already receive under any change, but Commission members say more funding will likely be needed to make that happen.
Several public commenters who work in and have children in Delaware’s public schools say they want to see more accountability measures if the Commission begins implementing the suggested model in the 2027-2028 school year.
“We know greater flexibility can have benefits but can also result in misallocation of funds if the accountability is not embedded and very clear,” Jacqueline Wager, a Cape Henlopen School District teacher, said. “So, we recommend specific language as the funding formula is crafted that would require weights for MLLs to go directly to this population.”
The Commission’s next meeting is set for 4 p.m. Nov. 10.
