In 2022, the Delaware General Assembly created the Public Education Compensation Committee, better known as PECC, to review the state’s education employee compensation structure.
The committee was tasked with making recommendations on a new compensation structure for educators and support staff. They released their final report last November, which included raising the Delaware base teacher salary to $60,000 by fiscal year 2028 and recommending several other pay raises for paraprofessionals, bus drivers, secretaries, food service workers, and custodians.
Governor John Carney included $45.2 million in his fiscal year 2025 recommended budget to fulfill most of PECC’s recommendations to some extent, with one exception.
State Senator and Senate Education Committee Chair Laura Sturgeon was disappointed that the Governor decided not to fund the creation of a unit for information technology specialists in schools.
Delaware currently uses a unit count system to fund the state’s share of public education costs. It works like this: at the beginning of the school year, districts conduct a student count. The state then takes the number of students in each building and converts them into 'units,' an all-encompassing term that indicates the state resources needed to support a classroom; largely teacher and school personnel salaries known as Division 1 units.
But many education leaders and lawmakers have argued this system is outdated and inequitable. While the unit system factors in special education students, it does not factor in low-income students, students with disabilities, or English learners who often need more support.
Districts also still don't receive any funding for IT specialists, which is why Sturgeon and PECC recommended creating a new funding unit for those positions.
“Despite the critical importance of technology in student learning, Delaware does not currently provide any dedicated state funding for IT employees, leaving districts to fund these positions out of other units earned or other funding sources,” Sturgeon said. “As we prepare our students with 21st-century skills, ensuring both students and educators have the support they need to become technologically proficient, cannot be overstated.”
Members of Gov. Carney’s team said they didn't include funding for the IT unit because legislation is needed to create one.
So, Sturgeon proposed that legislation and at a Senate Education Committee in March noted: “Right now there are approximately 180 full-time equivalent IT employees in the districts and charter schools across Delaware, all paid on a variety of salary scales, including the teacher, custodian, and paraprofessional scale.”
Brandywine School District Assistant Superintendent Kenny Rivera confirms Sturgeon's sentiments, explaining his district is forced to pull from other units in order to pay IT specialists.
“Because the state does not fund technology specialists for school districts, most of them come from our teacher unit allocation,” Rivera said. “We have one who comes out of the secretarial unit as well and then we have one supervisor of the department that comes out of the administrative supervisor allocation that the state gives the district.”
Sturgeon read a letter from IT professional Andrew Hocker from the Cape Henlopen School District during the hearing, noting several IT employees often move to the private sector for better pay.
“Since he’s been part of the team, they have lost many talented individuals due to financial compensation, and they have difficulty recruiting people that can help the team grow,” Sturgeon said. “Much of this has to do with the lack of representation for IT positions in state code. With Senate Bill 227, they see light at the end of the tunnel, having units provided to all districts for technology positions.”
Ben Wells, the Chief Information Officer for the Capital School District, says his district is experiencing similar IT staffing issues.
“We’ve experienced turnover to technology positions due to the private sector, to larger school districts, and even state agencies,” Wells said. “That happened just recently to us where we lost some staff to state agencies, and why does that occur? Because they have scales and resources that are dedicated to technology.”
Committee members were largely supportive of the bill, but conversations quickly turned into questioning the entire unit system.
Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola argued the legislation is just another band-aid fix on a system he believes has been broken for three decades.
“Kind of gritting my teeth every time we add another unit for some other purpose, and I don’t know if it’s worth it to add another unit. I think it’s worth it to look at getting rid of all of the units that we have and do a per-student funding."Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola believes the state's education system needs better solutions.
“Kind of gritting my teeth every time we add another unit for some other purpose, and I don’t know if it’s worth it to add another unit,” Sokola said. “I think it’s worth it to look at getting rid of all of the units that we have and do a per-student funding – the way everybody else does, and the way every successful system in the country and around the world does it."
Sokola wasn’t alone in his concerns about the system.
Executive Director of the Delaware Charter Schools Network Kendall Massett says that although the charter schools would welcome more funding, they remain neutral on supporting the bill because it contributes to what's already a dysfunctional system.
“On average, our charter schools would get .36 information technology units, which means, in fact, most of our schools get less than .3. How is that equitable? If that’s what you’re thinking, if you believe, as the sponsors do, and to be very clear, the sponsors want to put more money into the system, I'm not saying that that's a problem,” Massett said. “But if you believe that every district, of which every charter school is its own district, we have to act the same way, we have to do all the same things, deserves at least one information technology person, then give everybody one unit. Then give everybody that. That's not how that works, because of these 150 Division 1 units.”
But some district officials like Capital’s Wells say something needs to be done now, even if it’s just a temporary solution within a larger problem.
“How in today’s era where we’re so reliant on technology do we not have units earned for technology positions? You know, especially when you think about everything in our lives that gets connected to technology and that skillset that’s gonna be required is only going to continue to grow,” Wells said. “So, these equity issues that face us are only going to continue to grow.”
Matt Burrows, the superintendent for the Appoquinimink School District, adds that not only is the First State falling behind in funding IT positions, districts are more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.
“We’re well behind the curve as a state in funding these positions and we’re way beyond the need for those positions, not only on the support side of it but on the security side of it,” Burrows said. “We don’t seem to appreciate, at this point, the cybersecurity aspect of this.”
The Delaware State Education Association, the union that represents state education employees, is taking a strong stance in support of the bill.
The association’s Director of Legislative and Political Strategy Taylor Hawk says providing funding for the currently unfunded position of technology information specialist is too important to pass up.
“I think that we would definitely welcome this first step, but that doesn't mean that this is necessarily going to cover all of the technology needs, and it doesn't mean that there doesn't need to be future conversations about what that ratio looks like,” Hawk said. “But we really do think this is a really strong step that will provide funding where there was nothing before.”
Aside from the debate over the system, there are also concerns about finding the funding for the positions on the state and local side.
Over the next three years, funding for IT positions is expected to cost Delaware anywhere from $6.7 million to $7.6 million annually, with school districts having to cover more than an additional $2 million.
Senate Education Committee member and Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn noted at the bill’s March committee hearing that the state as a whole has budget concerns in the coming years. Sturgeon agrees with Pettyjohn, but wants to at least put the option on the table in case funding could be found.
Either way, the bill creating an IT funding unit remains in limbo. It's been waiting for consideration in the Senate Finance Committee for more than two months, leaving dwindling time this session to gain approval in both chambers before heading to Gov. Carney for signature.
Although education leaders and lawmakers seem unanimous on the need for designated funding for IT professionals, the conversation continues to highlight the question everyone seems to be asking: When will Delaware take a serious look at reforming the unit funding system?
Another education committee member and Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth Lockman alluded to that very question.
“It hurts even more to invest in a system that we feel uncomfortable with, that we feel is dysfunctional. So, it seems like making it functional has really risen to the top of our priorities."Senate Majority Whip Elizabeth Lockman wants lawmakers to take a serious look at reforming the state's unit funding system.
“It hurts even more to invest in a system that we feel uncomfortable with, that we feel is dysfunctional,” Lockman said. “So, it seems like making it functional has really risen to the top of our priorities. I’m really excited to see us talking about that, and hopefully taking action on that very soon.”
Sturgeon has indicated she plans to propose the creation of a committee to more fully examine the independent review of Delaware’s education funding system released last year that encourages the state to invest between $500 million to $1 billion more in education.
But while those discussions continue in Dover, Wells makes it clear that school districts are still faced with tough choices right now.
“School districts right now are placed in a really difficult situation where they have to make a decision between instruction and technology,” Wells said. “They have to decide: Am I going to add a teacher, or am I going to add a technology person?”
Rivera says the lack of flexibility within the funding system needs to be addressed in order for schools to continue evolving with the times.
“How do we, as a state, continue to evolve and modernize as the world continues to change,” Rivera said. “I think flexibility is needed to be able to support the significant increase in devices and software and applications and smart boards.”
