Delaware Department of Education launches study to analyze public education funding system

DELAWARE – The Delaware Department of Education launched a study into the state’s public education funding system.

With the help of The American Institutes for Research, the Delaware Department of Education is launching a study into the state’s public education funding system. This means an independent comprehensive evaluation will be done of their current system. They will find the strengths and weaknesses and do research into best practices to create an updated system. The Department’s goal is to get recommendations in order to make improvements with a focus on equity for all students.

“Right now, the public funding system at its primary core is based on enrollment,” Kim Klein, Associate Secretary of Operations Support for DOE, said. “So, it’s based on what we call the unit count and enrollment which has various levels for students with special needs, but it does not have different funding levels for low income or EL students for example.”

During Governor John Carney’s term, he’s created Opportunity Funding targeting low-income and EL students, but the Department of Education says their goal is to really evaluate the system as a whole to see if they to need to target other areas.

We’re told through this contract a final report should be done by December of 2023.