Department of Education asks for public’s help in increasing financial transparency

LEWES, Del. – The Delaware Department of Education is increasing its financial transparency, thanks to two new pieces of legislation.  The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, at the federal level, and Senate Bill 172 at the state level.

Thursday, the DOE held its third and final public input session in Sussex County, to hear from locals what they want to see in future financial reports.

“They’re going to hopefully gain some trust that we want to do what they want us to do, as far as making expenditures more transparent,” said Chuck Longfellow with the Delaware Department of Education.

These pieces of legislation mandate the DOE gives school-level financial reports annually, a new level of fiscal transparency.  But these public input sessions are designed to go a step further.

“So we want to know what the people need to see because really it’s for them, it’s for them to build understanding how we’re spending money on schools and what we’re spending it on. The more input we get on that the better we can meet their needs,” said Longfellow.

At previous meetings in New Castle and Kent counties, those who attended say they want to see broken down numbers on how salary dollars are being spent, and that there needs to be additional public engagement beyond the input sessions.

One man in attendance suggested more power to districts in allocating funding.

“To have the districts have the ability to establish or determine, and provide input on the allocation percentages of various administrative costs.”

With the new mandates the DOE hopes to see more efficiency across the state, and more competition among schools to be better.

“The more we understand how we’re spending, I think the more efficient we can eventually be,” said Longfellow.  “You might compare your spend with another schools spend and say ‘wait a minute, they’re doing this for less, let’s talk to them and find out what they’re doing.'”

These public input sessions have concluded, but the process is still ongoing if you want to make your voice heard.

If you have feedback or comments you can send an email.  You can find the information from the meeting Thursday at the Department’s website.