The Redding Consortium for Educational Equity told the Joint Finance Committee that it won’t produce a plan for Northern New Castle County district consolidation until the end of 2026.
When it voted in December to combine the Red Clay, Christina, Brandywine and Colonial school districts into one, the consortium set a timeline to deliver a plan by this summer.
But Redding co-chair and State Sen. Tizzy Lockman said they’ve since decided that’s not realistic.
"We feel that urgency, but also the call to not be over hasty and yield a sloppy proposal" Lockman said.
The group will extend its contract with the American Institutes for Research to help their work to redraw boundary lines.
Gov. Matt Meyer’s recommended budget keeps the Redding consortium's funding flat at approximately $10 million in DOE’s 2.4 billion dollar overall general fund budget.
State Rep. Kim Williams asked, now that a footprint for redistricting is decided, whether the Redding Consortium will continue to fund literacy programs and teacher support that no longer fall within its parameters.
Lockman said she's not sure. She added the consortium’s plan still has to be introduced. And if approved, implementation could take years.
"I hesitate to speculate on exactly what that looks like in terms of like some of the discrete programs we described today, and what those will look like on the other side of redistricting," she said. "I'm hopeful that the work the consortium is doing, the programs that we're trying, the results that we are observing–are going to inform these new systems and structures."
Wilmington Learning Collaborative faces possible cuts
Among proposed cuts in the Department of Education’s budget is a significant drop in spending for the Wilmington Learning Collaborative.
The Wilmington Learning Collaborative launched in 2022 in Christina, Brandywine and Red Clay with the goal of improving educational outcomes for city students through added programming and teacher support.
It funds teacher instruction, along with after school and summer programming for students.
State Sen. Darius Brown (D-Wilmington), who’s on the Joint Finance Committee, noted an $8 million drop in its funding on the proposed budget.
“If we've been doing, I think we've been doing $10 million for the last three, four years....so now we're at $2 million," he said. "And we're expecting some outcomes to improve the lives of Wilmington kids."
Brian Ray, DOE’s Secretary of Finance and Operations, said when the budget was constructed, carry over projections in funding for the Wilmington Learning Collaborative were higher, at around $4 million.
Laura Burgos, WLC Executive Director told the Joint Finance Committee that carry over from last year will be less than 2 million dollars.
She said WLC wants to continue the same level of programming to its schools and students. The largest line item on the budget she presented for FY 2027 was more $420 thousand for teacher and training supports.
