Survey: Commission Studying Education Spending Still Needs More Info

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The commission tasked with studying Delaware’s funding formula for public education on the heels of a report suggesting spending should be increased by upward of $1 billion annually has a large hill to climb.

That’s hampered by an information gap, after a recent survey determined that a large number of the commission members don’t feel they have enough of a grasp on the current or proposed funding systems to formulate a plan.

In recent years, Delaware has come under scrutiny for the way its public education system is funded. Advocacy groups like the Delaware NAACP and Delawareans for Educational Opportunity filed a lawsuit arguing that the state’s education system did not provide an adequate education to all students and therefore violated their rights.

A national consultant, the American Institutes for Research, completed an independent assessment of education funding in Delaware as part of the 2020 settlement from that case, where it recommended that the state increase spending by as much as $1 billion to meet its 2030 educational proficiency goals.

After both Democratic and Republican members of the State Senate’s Education Committee raised concerns in a March meeting over how the sum would affect taxpayers, however, the legislature chose to create the Public Education Funding Commission (PEFC) to examine the recommendation.

In its Nov. 13 meeting, the commission released its anonymous survey about whether Delaware should try to reform and improve the longstanding unit count formula that determines state funding support for public schools statewide, or scrap it altogether and create a weighted student formula that many other states have moved to in recent years.

About 48% of respondents said they were neutral, not sure or needed more information. In comparison, 33% voted for improving the current system and 19% voted for creating a brand new system. Ten members of the 31-member commission, which includes legislators, Cabinet leaders, teachers, principals, support professionals, and community advocates, did not respond to the survey.

State Senator and Commission Chair Laura Sturgeon (D-Brandywine Hundred) made it clear that she wished the PEFC’s first two meetings would have provided the “foundational knowledge” necessary to make a decision to rebuild or remodel the current system.

The PEFC’s next two meetings will focus on how public education funding works in Delaware, and specific examples of what a total rebuild would look like, compared to a remodel with small or large changes. Sturgeon added that she hopes people will feel more comfortable choosing a direction after the December and February meetings.

Commission members’ need for more information comes after discussions about pushing back the timeline for issuing final recommendations, which frustrated some advocates who argue that the state has been debating and studying the issue for nearly 20 years without making substantive changes.

The commission was slated to submit its first set of recommendations by Oct. 1, 2025, to be considered in the governor’s recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2027. However, the commission previously discussed submitting its recommendations in July 2026 instead, which would delay possible funding until the budget for Fiscal Year 2028.

Although future meetings aim to provide more knowledge, some members were quick to point out that their peers should be doing their own research on the public education funding system rather than waiting for the information to be given.

“Today, a lot of us have been really quiet, but we really need that input if we’re going to move forward and if we’re going to make these transformational changes that we really want in our education system, because it’s too important for us to sit back, be quiet and wait,” said commission member Marcus Wright, who is also a member of the Seaford School District Board of Education. “We’ve got to go out, we’ve got to do the work. We got to do some research on our own as well.”

Wright called on members to lean on those who are on the commission to help “gain the knowledge that you need so that we can move forward.”

Wright also pointed out that the commission doesn’t have much time to form its recommendations, and that the work is too important to do in two-hour blocks once every month.

Sturgeon agreed and called on members to voice their opinions more and said that the commission has also provided reading materials to help people feel more comfortable with the topic.

“I know we’re all super busy, and so just encouraging you to read what you can or ask questions,” Sturgeon said. “Call us, meet with us, meet with whoever, and then when you feel like you understand it well enough please voice your opinion, and please don’t be afraid of having an opinion and then changing your mind later.”

This story was originally published on Spotlight Delaware.

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