State Rep. Sherae’a Moore’s (D-Middletown) removal from the House Education Committee has sparked a larger conversation around due process and Democratic infighting within the Delaware legislature.
Moore argues her removal from the committee and its leadership was a coordinated political attack by House Education Chair Kim Williams (D-Stanton) and House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle).
Speaker Minor-Brown and Rep. Williams argue the move was due to Moore’s previous lack of licensure while teaching in the state, as well as a suggested bill amendment that would have professionally benefited her.
The bill in question is House Bill 97, which would ensure that a public school employee does not work directly with students unsupervised without a valid permit or license.
Reporting from Delaware Online/The News Journal found Rep. Moore to be one of over 400 educators who are or were working in Delaware on expired or missing teaching licenses as of March of this year.
Although Rep. Moore never officially filed the amendment, she asked Rep. Williams as the sponsor of House Bill 97 if she would be open to a change that would have given grace to those enrolled in Alternative Routes to Certification (ARTC) Programs — which Rep. Moore is a part of — during the bill's House Education Committee hearing on April 9.
The bill's hearing was before Rep. Moore's teaching permit status was revealed to the public, but Rep. William's said during that hearing she was "uncomfortable" endorsing such an amendment because she felt it related directly to Rep. Moore's personal teaching license situation.
Rep. Moore was quick to testify that the ARTC grace period she was proposing was not related to her personal situation and that it was inappropriate for Williams to make such a comment on the record.
Rep. Moore reinforced this point in an interview with Delaware Public Media on Wednesday, saying the amendment was "never about her," but Rep. Williams argues the opposite.
"For her to lie, saying that the amendment had nothing to do with her and saying, 'I don't know why this needs to be on record,' that was a lie. She knew it had everything to do with her," Rep. Williams told Delaware Public Media. “She needs to get her stuff together. That's not my fault, that's not the speaker's fault. I respect what the leadership has done. Speaker Minor-Brown has done an exceptional job. I'm proud of the work our leadership has done."
Although supportive of the speaker's decision, Rep. Williams says she was not involved in any conversations or in the decision itself to remove Rep. Moore from the committee.
She says she didn't feel her opinion on the removal was necessary given how she had already publicly stated she was uncomfortable with Moore’s request for the House Bill 97 amendment.
House Bill 97 passed the House with 30 yes votes, two abstentions and nine members absent. It has since cleared the Senate Education Committee and now awaits approval from the full Senate before heading to Gov. Matt Meyer for signature.
The ongoing battle over universal free school meals in Delaware
Rep. Moore additionally argues her removal was political based on recent public tension between her and Rep. Williams over free universal school meals.
Rep. Moore filed legislation last year that would make the state cover the — at the time — $40 million annual cost of providing free school meals to all public school children in Delaware.
During the bill's hearing, Rep. Williams — who was vice chair of the state's budget writing Joint Finance Committee and is now the chair — told Rep. Moore she didn't feel the state could take on such a large fiscal note due to impending budget concerns.
A compromise was reached, and the legislature passed a bill that transitioned students who initially qualified for reduced-price meals to now receive free meals, which is only costing the state around $250,000 annually.
But Rep. Moore remains an advocate for universal free school meals in Delaware and reintroduced her bill this legislative session on March 13, which now carries a $45 million annual fiscal note with a year-over-year phased-in approach.
Less than two weeks later, Rep. Williams introduced her own bill that would have expanded eligibility for free meals from 185% of the federal poverty level to at or below 225%, which carried an annual fiscal note of around $10 million.
Rep. Moore made her distaste over Rep. William's decision to file her own competing bill clear during the legislation's committee hearing, but both lawmakers blame the lack of collaboration on the other.
Rep. Moore sent a letter to Democratic leadership requesting their mediation on the matter, arguing Rep. Williams had not expressed any interest in working on a compromise.
"I attempted to engage Rep. Williams directly to discuss potential alignment on the bills. I reached out on March 26 to seek a compromise ahead of any committee consideration. Her response was limited to noting that she had worked with the Delaware Department of Education. In light of that, I elevated the concern by sending an email on April 4 to Speaker Minor-Brown and Majority Leader Harris, requesting an opportunity to address the issue within the caucus before either bill proceeded. That communication was not acknowledge. I then raised the matter verbally during our caucus meeting on April 8, reiterating my request for leadership to facilitate a dialogue between Rep. Williams and myself to resolve the conflict collaboratively. That request also went unanswered," Rep. Moore's letter to leadership reads.
Rep. Williams told Delaware Public Media there were several issues in trying to find a time for the two to meet, and she feels Rep. Moore has been the close-minded one while noting the state's budgetary concerns have only worsened.
"Honestly, if [Rep.Moore] came to me early on and said, 'I really want this,' I would have worked with her. But I felt like she just filed a bill that she knew she couldn't get done. And it's nice that you say you've worked on it a couple years and people support it, but if we financially don't have the money, and there's 61 of us that all want their bills done, and all have important things, we have to compromise. We have to work together," Rep. Williams said. "She's not in caucus a lot, like she comes and goes. It's hard to get her — she's late coming to the floor. She misses sessions sometimes. So, I understand everyone has busy lives, but you need to have these conversations, and she should have came to me and talked to me."
Rep. Williams says eventually her and Rep. Moore met via Zoom with the Department of Education to discuss a compromise of solely free school breakfast, which would cost the state just over $3 million annually. She says Rep. Moore was not receptive to the compromise.
"She was rolling her eyes at me. So I tried — I did what I said I would do. I'm hoping she still comes around. But obviously they think that her being removed, I guess, from the [House Education Committee], is because of a breakfast and lunch bill, which — I just don't get it," Rep. Williams said.
Rep. Williams substituted her initial bill to one that would provide free school breakfast for Delaware students — Rep. Moore is not signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill.
Both Rep. Williams' bill and Rep. Moore's bill were voted out of committee and await consideration on the House floor.
Tensions continue to rise between Working Families Party and rest of the Democratic Caucus
This legislative session marks the highest number of Working Families Party (WFP) — a progressive grassroots political party — members in the Delaware General Assembly to date.
Around one-third of the 27-member Democratic caucus have been endorsed by WFP, and public division between the more progressive group and the remainder of the caucus continues to grow.
Rep. Moore is a member of WFP, as well as State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Newark), who believes Rep. Moore's removal from the committee was undoubtedly political.
"I think it's laughable," Rep. Wilson-Anton told Delaware Public Media in reference to Rep. Moore's removal being based on her licensure status and the suggested House Bill 97 amendment. "Because there's a lot of proof that if it were the case that this was about licensure, things would have been handled much differently. We have a member — a sitting member of the House who was driving under the influence, got into an accident and severely injured someone, and no action was taken to reprimand him until after he was found guilty in a court of law. And I can say that I brought up the concern before that happened and was told that nothing could be done until he got his day in court, which I agree with. And so far, the only investigation that's been done into Rep. Moore's licensure has been through [the Delaware Online/The News Journal] article, which I believe was politically motivated based on the timing of when it came out and the framing of that article."
Rep. Wilson-Anton is referring to State Rep. Kevin Hensley (R-Townsend), who remains a sitting legislator but was removed from the Joint Finance Committee following his DUI conviction.
"For Rep. Williams to say that Rep. Moore introduced an amendment improperly is also factually false because she didn't introduce an amendment. So what are we even talking about? She also wasn't present the day that we voted on the bill. So you can't even say that she voted no on a bill because it impacts her personally. She wasn't present. She didn't lobby members to support it or not support it or lobby members to introduce an amendment. She did none of that. So to me, what I see is political actors in the speaker and Chair Williams choosing to try to justify actions that they've decided to make that are not just and that's why it's so confusing. I've had members of the public — I've had a lot of folks reach out to me in the last couple of days asking, what is this really about? Because it's clear that it's not about licensure," Rep. Wilson-Anton added.
When asked about Rep. Wilson-Anton's public expressed disappointment over how Rep. Moore's removal was handled prior to Delaware Public Media's interview with Rep. Wilson-Anton, Rep. Williams said, "They're with the Working Families Party, of course they're going to stick together — maybe Rep. Wilson-Anton doesn't know the whole background story with [Rep. Moore], I'll give her that."
"[Rep. Wilson-Anton] and I always had a good relationship, like we always respected each other, we didn't always agree, but we have a good relationship. So I was a little surprised that she would say that. I understand she's standing up for her friend, and that's what we do, but it's not politically motivated. I feel like by them saying it is, they're making it that way. So I don't know why she would say that — she's entitled to say what she wants, so I have no ill will. It is what it is," Rep. Williams added.
But Rep. Wilson-Anton feels there are larger dynamics at play between WFP members and the rest of the caucus and believes incidents like this only further the animosity.
"What's disappointing is the expectations of members of the progressive wing of the caucus are completely different than the expectations for the rest of the members. We're treated as if we're not equal members of the caucus. We're not seen as valuable members of the caucus. And I think the way that Rep. Williams has conducted herself when it comes to universal school meals is the perfect example of that double standard," Rep. Wilson-Anton said.
Rep. Wilson-Anton also feels Rep. Moore's removal was done without proper due process.
Although the meetings are not made available to the public, Delaware's legislative website would post if a House Ethics Committee was held, which has not happened in years.
Rep. Wilson-Anton says if Speaker Minor-Brown received various phone calls and emails from lawmakers raising concerns over Rep. Moore's licensure status, then she believes the speaker should have directed those lawmakers to file an ethics complaint, prompting an Ethics Committee hearing.
"Instead, she chose to circumvent the process to give Rep. Moore no due process, to allow the court of public opinion to make a decision on whether she should stay on the committee or not. Because what I think is very telling and makes this so obvious and clear to be a political decision that's based in spite and pettiness and immaturity is the fact that the speaker told the public the reason for Rep. Moore's removal before she told Rep. Moore herself. I don't think there's another more damning part of this entire situation, other than the fact that the speaker was more interested in making her case to the public than she was to the member who was meant to be reprimanded or to the other members of the General Assembly," Rep. Wilson-Anton said.
Rep. Moore told Delaware Public Media she was never given the opportunity to meet with leadership before Speaker Minor-Brown notified her of her removal.
"There was never an official conversation with leadership — because apparently this was a leadership decision as the later the letter states — there was never no official meeting, saying, 'Hey, in 48 hours House leadership would like to meet with you in regards to how your certification makes it look as you being vice chair' — anything like that. I was never offered an opportunity to explain the process on the official side of anything," Rep. Moore said.
Speaker Minor-Brown provided Delaware Public Media with evidence that she reached out to Rep. Moore via text requesting to meet with her Tuesday prior to the email notifying her of her removal.
Speaker Minor-Brown did not indicate a replacement for Rep. Moore's spot on the House Education Committee, and Rep. William's says she defers to the speaker's judgement on who it should be.
As of Thursday, there are only 12 more legislative days until the General Assembly recesses in June.
