The budget writing Joint Finance Committee's mark-up hearings add $65 million in general funds to Gov. Matt Meyer’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2027.
It brings recommended general fund appropriations to approximately $7.4 billion dollars. And it brings the General Fund operating budget from $6.9 billion to more than $7 billion.
It takes the state's spending growth rate to 6.3%, surpassing Meyer's goal of keeping spending growth under 5%.
The additional dollars are spread across several departments and projects, notably allocating an extra $35 million to the Department of Education, in part to cover grant funding for substitute teachers and the Wilmington Learning Collaborative.
Joint Finance Committee’s chair Sen. Trey Paradee (D-Dover) said he's "excited about some of the targeted additions that (the JFC markup) made and restoration of certain spending that we've made in the area of education."
Meyer’s recommended budget cut the WLC funding by about 80%, down to $2 million. The JFC added $3 million for the group, which works across three districts in Wilmington to improve student outcomes.
JFC also adds money back to the Dept of Education budget for the athletic trainer block grant, allocating about $2.3 million. And it adds $2 million for the substitute teacher block grant.
The JFC markup also added more than $11 million to the Office of Management and Budget to help give state employees a 3% raise.
Paradee said this is a bump from the 2% suggested in the Governor's budget recommendation.
He pointed out that each percentage point added here increases spending by $10.9 million.
JFC also approved increasing state retiree payroll by one quarter of 1%. This will add $6 million in spending for the state.
Delaware is also shifting its contributions to retiree health plans from the General Fund to a special fund, which will come from unclaimed property. But the state expects to move back to funding retiree benefits with General Fund dollars for fiscal year 2028.
Revenue for the state is slightly up from predictions made in March. DEFAC, an economic advisory group for Delaware, reported May’s overall revenue estimates leave the state approximately $196 million more to spend on its FY 27 budget than projected in March.
