Del. Senate passes two bills to help schools attract and retain highly qualified educators

DOVER, Del. – The Delaware Senate has passed two bills to continue efforts to address the ongoing educator shortage and improve teacher-to-student staffing ratios across the state.

Senate Bill 187 would help Delaware schools recruit qualified candidates into the teaching profession by helping to ensure that the salary calculations for future Delaware educators are based on the advanced degrees they earned before their initial date of hire.

For example, the starting salary for someone who has earned a Master of Business Administration before searching for a job as a high school math teacher would be based solely on their bachelor’s degree, rather than the transferrable skills and background they bring to the classroom.

This would only apply to educators hired after the legislation is signed into law. Advanced degrees earned after an educator is hired would still need to apply to their area of expertise or specialty for usage in future salary calculations.

Senate Bill 188 would make Delaware the 12th state to join the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, an occupational licensing agreement that would make teaching licenses of qualified candidates from a variety of backgrounds more readily transferrable from one state to another. This allows individual states to set their own licensing requirements while establishing a minimal threshold to qualify for eligibility.

Both bills now head to the Delaware House of Representatives for final consideration.