A bill to allow individuals who have committed a violent felony to apply for the SEED scholarship could not garner enough lawmaker support to be released from the House Education Committee.
In 2021, the Delaware legislature removed a previous rule that SEED applicants could have no felonies on their record in order to receive the scholarship funds and updated the rule to only exclude those with violent felonies unless they are drug-related offenses.
State Rep. Eric Morrison (D-Glasgow) is now introducing legislation to remove the violent felonies exception, which would open up the free-tuition program to anyone who was previously convicted of a crime.
"These individuals are the very individuals who could most benefit from a higher education," Morrison said.
He also noted Delaware Technical Community College (Del Tech) — where the SEED program is most prevalent — is already an open enrollment campus, meaning having a violent felony does not exclude them from admission. This bill would simply allow those students to also apply for SEED money and is estimated to only be applicable for less than five students annually.
Morrison added Delaware has been working on several second-chance initiatives for justice-involved individuals in recent years, and this bill would simply add to those efforts.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle found it difficult to agree with him, raising concerns of having violent felons in the classroom.
"Do you have the same concern that I do, as far as if we have high school students attending on a Del Tech campus, if we have nursing students attending on a campus, that they could be sitting in the same classroom with somebody that has been convicted of strangulation or a sexual crime?" State Rep. Valerie Jones Giltner (R-Georgetown) asked Morrison during debate.
"What I would point out is that that could be the case right now because right now we do not bar anyone with a violent felony on their record from attending an institution of higher learning," Morrison responded.
General Counsel for Del Tech Brian Shirey clarified background checks are not necessary for admission into the community college, but are required and must be passed for admittance into some programs like nursing and education.
Despite this distinction, some representatives still expressed they could not support allocating additional tax dollars to funding the education of those convicted of violent felonies, including State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford South), who cited data noting felons have a high likelihood of committing additional crimes, also known as recidivism.
"In the 60s-70s% in the state of Delaware — the recidivism rate of violent offenders. And welcoming them on the same campus as young students, as high school students, as young females, as young males — welcoming them on the same campus, when we know statistically, by fact, that the recidivism rate says that the vast majority of them will commit a new crime within the first three years that they're out. So I think that is a major objection by all of us," Shupe said.
In response, Morrison said: "One of the big things that helps lower recidivism is getting folks an education that they need. So I appreciate that point, and I appreciate that we want to lower recidivism — this bill is one way we can do it."
State Rep. Sophie Philips (D-Bear) also noted her own personal experience with sexual assault in high school and said she would be okay with felons receiving extra money to go to school in order to help with recidivism rates.
House Education Committee Chair Kim Williams (D-Stanton) brought up concerns that the legislation does not require those individuals to have completed their sentencing before applying.
"I would be more open to this if they had to fulfill their requirements because that is the punishment — you break the law, these are your consequences. I would feel more comfortable passing this bill if that was met," Williams said. “I don’t feel comfortable, personally, someone who’s a sex offender or a rapist or a murderer not having to have that completed — their probation and everything.”
Morrison went back to his argument that there are already students attending Del Tech who could be in the midst of criminal proceedings, but it is not a requirement for that information to be disclosed.
United Way of Delaware, the Delaware Center for Justice and Delaware Family Restoration Services all spoke in favor of the bill.
Shirey said Del Tech is not supporting the bill, arguing the SEED scholarship is supposed to be an incentive program that encourages high schoolers to "stay out of trouble," and if violent felons were allowed to apply, it would removes that incentive.
While there was an effort to table the bill, the motion did not receive enough votes. Following the failed motion, an attempt was made to bring the bill to a vote to release it from committee, but the motion did not receive a second.
The bill will remain in the House Education Committee until it is further acted upon.
