Governor Announces Education Priorities

Governor Jack Markell, Lt. Governor Matt Denn, and Education Secretary Lillian Lowery announced the Administration's education priorities on March 4, which are to "give school districts more flexibility to innovate, offer teachers additional rewards for excellence, and introduce greater accountability by replacing the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) with a system that more accurately measures student progress."

All of the proposals are aligned with Vision 2015, and we look forward to working with the Administration in the coming years to create world-class schools. One of the proposals, granting school leaders more discretion over spending funds, can be undertaken immediately since it requires no additional public dollars.

"We have the ability to make our state's education system one of the best in the world but that kind of progress demands that we think differently about how we measure and achieve success. It demands that we do more with the limited resources we have and encourage innovation," Markell said.

Delaware Educators and Others Ask for More Spending Flexibility

With cuts to the public education budget looming, voices across the state are calling for increased flexibility and control over spending at the local level. They argue that since school and district leaders understand best the unique needs of their students, they should be given every possible opportunity to make decisions on how to use limited resources to meet those needs. Their voices are directly aligned with Vision 2015's recommendation to "empower principals to be great school leaders, with enough knowledge, authority and flexibility to get results."

At the Joint Finance Committee's hearing on public education on February 18, Colonial School District Superintendent George Meney, representing the state's superintendents, asked officials to provide districts with as much flexibility as possible.

Vision 2015 Chair Skip Schoenhals called on the legislators to "act aggressively" to spend our education dollars smarter by implementing the LEAD Committee Cost Efficiency Study recommendations and giving local schools more discretion in using scarce funds. "Those closer to the classroom know better what cuts can be made that won't affect the classroom," said Schoenhals. "Untie the hands of our district and school-level leaders."

Education Voters of Delaware, a new nonprofit advocacy group, is calling on elected officials to "Give qualified school leaders greater flexibility to control more of their budgets” and is giving Delawareans the opportunity to have their voices heard on this issue.

In 2002, Maryland legislators passed the Bridge to Excellence Act to streamline the state's funding formula, increase resource sufficiency and equity, and develop accountability agreements with each district. A recent evaluation of the law's effectiveness found that the effort had substantially improved student performance and narrowed proficiency gaps. Strikingly, proficiency gaps among student groups in grades 3 to 5 closed by 51% in reading and 49% in math. Additionally, school leaders felt "overwhelmingly positive" about the accountability and planning process.

Source: "An Evaluation of the Effect of Increased State Aid to Local School Systems Through the Bridge to Excellence Act," Maryland Department of Education and MGT of America, Inc. December 19, 2008.

Delaware doesn't have to start from scratch to give districts and schools more flexibility. In December 2008, the Governor-appointed LEAD Committee released its Report on Education Funding in Delaware, which called on our state to update the way it raises and distributes taxpayer dollars for public education to better meet the diverse needs of individual students. Among other proposals, the report recommends:

• Enabling principals and other school leaders to control more of their funds, and
• Adopting a "weighted" funding formula that addresses the different learning needs of individual students.

In the coming year, we look forward to working with Delaware's educators, elected officials, community leaders, and the numerous organizations throughout the state to address the essential need to overhaul Delaware’s funding system for greater efficiency and fairness. By spending our education dollars "smarter" and improving the way that Delaware schools and their students are funded, we will be closer to achieving Vision 2015's goal of a world-class education for every Delaware student.

Did You Know?

School leaders in Delaware have decision-making authority over just 8% of their budgets, which limits their ability to respond to the varying needs of their students. Many of the world’s highest-performing school systems allow school leaders to control 75% of their budgets.

Source of Delaware Data: Delaware Department of Education, "Report of Educational Statistics," 2003-04.

In 1994, the central office of the Edmonton public school district in Alberta, Canada, was renamed Central Services and redesigned to act as a data-driven service provider to schools instead of performing a traditional administrative and compliance role. In addition, schools have much wider powers over their budgets, including the ability to select from various services and providers.

With over 78% of budgetary control now in the hands of local schools, they can choose to buy services such as teacher professional development and student assessment tools from either central office or outside vendors. This approach means Central Services must remain competitive in cost and quality, or risk losing the business.

Read more.

"As a board member, the trip to Edmonton gave me insight into the direction our district needs to explore, has given me buy-in, and has provided me with first-hand experiences and documentation to convince my fellow board members as to the merits of change. If there were no barriers, I would love to provide the wide variety of courses and programs that meet the needs and interests of "every" student, which ultimately leads to staying in school, graduating, and being prepared for work and/for further education."

-- Nina Lou Bunting, Indian River school board member and retired teacher, on what she learned from the Vision Network trip to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (see Spotlight for more on Edmonton Public Schools).

Read more about the trip to Edmonton.

Read more reflections from Edmonton participants