Education

This Act provides that each school district and charter school must report three times a year, instead of annually, to the Department of Education, the number and percentage of students, disaggregated by grade and by individual school, identified with a potential reading deficiency, including characteristics of dyslexia, pursuant to mandated literary screening, and the literacy intervention approaches being provided.

This Act creates a scholarship for students who have completed a Delaware Teacher Academy and are enrolled in a Delaware Educator Preparation Program. This scholarship supplements the Educator Support Scholarship and is intended to fill a $2500 funding gap for aspiring educators who are in their first year at an Educator Preparation Program. No more than 35 scholarships may be awarded. The scholarship will be expanded based on interest and funding in subsequent school years and will continue as funding is available.

This Concurrent Resolution supports the recommendations made in the final report from the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association task force by requesting the development and implementation of policies and procedures to grant qualified media organizations and school-based programs access to broadcast DIAA-sanctioned high school playoff and championship games.

This Act increases the salary supplement for school counselors and school nurses from 6% to 12% upon national certification. It further clarifies that salary supplements only apply if the employee is employed in the applicable profession and permits the DOE to identify additional positions subject to a salary supplement in Department regulations. This Substitute includes school social workers in those employees eligible for a 12% salary supplement.

This bill prohibits the sale of energy drinks on public middle and high school campuses during school hours and at school events. It directly affects schools, students, and vendors by banning these beverages in specific educational settings. The law applies to all public schools within the state during the times students are officially engaged in school activities.

This Concurrent Resolution designates October 5 through November 6, 2026, as “Launch into Your Future Month” to recognize Delaware’s statewide effort to support student postsecondary planning and workforce readiness through coordinated school-based programming and community partnerships.

This Act recognizes that the Public Education Funding Committee’s (PEFC) recommended hybrid model formula to determine public education funding is good public policy and that implementation of the hybrid model should not be delayed any longer than absolutely necessary. As such, this Act provides authority for the Department of Education (Department) to begin making the changes to systems that are necessary to implement the hybrid model for Fiscal Year 2028. This Act also encourages that, in collaboration with the PEFC, the Department incorporate elements of the hybrid model in the development of the Governor’s Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2028 for consideration by the 154th General Assembly. However, during this transition, a school district or charter school should not receive a state appropriation for Fiscal Year 2028 that is lower than the amount that school received in Fiscal Year 2027. The PEFC was established under Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 201 (152nd General Assembly) on June 27, 2024, and then re-established under House Concurrent Resolution No. 2 (153rd General Assembly) on January 21, 2025, to conduct a comprehensive review of public education funding for all students and populations served by school districts and charter schools (public schools) and develop a roadmap of recommendations to implement improvements to the public education funding system. The PEFC’s recommends adopting a new public education funding framework, known as the “hybrid model”, that combines the current, resource-based funding formula with a student-based, weighted funding model. The hybrid model will improve equity in public school funding and facilitate gains in student achievement by increasing flexibility in how public schools may use appropriated money. The PEFC recommendations include accountability measures as an important balance to the increased flexibility and that the equalization formula must be modernized.

This Act provides that School Social Workers who have successfully passed the Association of Social Work Boards National Clinical Examination and hold a Licensed Clinical Social Worker License with a salary supplement. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act clarifies that security film is distinct from ballistic-resistant materials, and adds that school construction will satisfy the requirements of § 2306(b) if ballistic-resistant materials are used in the required locations. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act amends the Town of Smyrna Charter as follows: (1) Authorizes the Town to impose school impact fees on new development and construction as long as the impact fees do not exceed the impact fee that would otherwise be imposed by Kent County or New Castle County on development in unincorporated areas. (2) Authorizes the Board of Elections, and not the Town Council, to hear and decide challenges that are raised to the qualifications of candidates for the office of mayor and council. (3) Specifies that a vacancy in a council seat caused by the council member being elected as mayor is to be filled by the Town Council if less than a year is left on the term or by a special election if more than 1 year is left on the term. (4) Clarifies the standards to be used when determining the domicile of a prospective voter or candidate for office. (5) Establishes a 3-year term of office for the Board of Elections and clarifies that a tie vote for an office shall be resolved by the toss of a coin. (6) Eliminates the requirement that the Town Council meet the first and third Monday of each month and authorizes the Town Council to determine the day and frequency of monthly meetings at the annual organizational meeting. (7) Revises the annual audit deadline from June 30 to August 31.