The Delaware House Education Committee rejects a proposal to provide state funding for school resource officers and constables.
State Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford) introduced a bill that would enable the state to cover a maximum of 70% of the salary for school resource officers (SROs) and constables.
Currently, the First State schools that opt-in to having an SRO use a variety of different funding methods, whether it be money from a city, flexible funds provided by the Department of Education or even private donations.
Committee members' biggest concern was the price tag. The fiscal note on Shupe’s bill estimates the state would pay around $25 million per year — if every school decides to hire an SRO or constable — with an additional one-time cost of $12 million in fiscal year 2026.
“I would ask for a motion to accept, knowing that leadership and I are working on a way to address the fiscal note, in terms with, not only talking with the governor, but also putting the fiscal note in a much more manageable way over a number of years.”
But Shupe’s promise did not sway the majority of the Democratic members of the committee, several of whom also brought up concerns of over-policing schools and instead backed investing more in mental health providers.
State Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington) commended several of the SROs at the schools in his district but noted not every school has an officer or wants one.
He says with schools desperately needing to fill other positions — including teachers, social workers and paraprofessionals — he does not favor creating such a specific pot of funding.
“I just think that there are greater needs, and if there was a way to address the flexibility to where schools had that option or if there was other uses that the funding could be used for, I would be more inclined to support," Chukwuocha said.
Shupe countered several of his colleagues' points with the argument that the General Assembly just recently passed the final installment of providing more designated funding for mental health providers and school psychologists within the state.
A motion to release the bill ultimately failed on a near-party line vote with one Democrat defecting.
Shupe’s other bill requiring the Department of Education to consolidate its posting of public school performance data is moving to the House Floor for a full vote.
