Governor-elect Matt Meyer nominates the current U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten for Delaware’s next Secretary of Education.

Marten was nominated by President Joe Biden to be the U.S. Department of Education’s second-in-command in 2021 after serving as the superintendent of San Diego’s Unified School District for eight years, the state’s second largest school district.

“I am honored to join Governor-elect Meyer’s team and help lead Delaware’s public schools into a new era,” Marten said in a statement. “I believe deeply in the power of education to change lives, and I am committed to working with teachers, parents, students, and communities to ensure all of Delaware’s children receive a world-class education.”

She has over 15 years of experience as a classroom teacher in California and is the author of “Word Crafting: Teaching Spelling, Grades K-6,” which highlights literacy as a key to students’ success.

Her nomination comes amid a crucial point in revamping Delaware’s public education system, which is facing record-low math and literacy proficiency rates, a teacher shortage and ongoing efforts to rework the state’s outdated education funding formula, which has not been reworked since the 1940s.

“Cindy Marten is a proven leader with a deep understanding of the challenges that students and educators face. She has spent her career working to ensure every student has the tools and resources they need to thrive,” Meyer said in a statement. “As Delaware’s next Secretary of Education, Cindy will guide our classrooms into a brighter future where equity, opportunity, and excellence are at the heart of everything we do.”

State Sen. Laura Sturgeon (D-Woodbrook), chair of the Senate Education Committee and co-chair of the Public Education Funding Commission (PEFC), is excited to have a new voice in the funding formula conversation.

She feels the looming transition to a new administration may have kept current Education Secretary Mark Holodick from being too proactive in PEFC conversations, which is currently deciding if the funding formula should be reworked or scrapped entirely.

“Knowing that this transition was coming, knowing that we were gonna have a new governor and potentially a new secretary of education, I think made it difficult for the [current] secretary of education to feel like he wanted to be too proactive and put his finger on the scale too much of what was going to happen because he didn’t know what his future held,” Sturgeon said. “But now, having someone who knows they’re gonna be in this position for the foreseeable future, gives us an opportunity to really hear her thoughts, and she can bring all her experience to bear on her opinions and comments during these these meetings, so I actually think it’s a great thing. I think her coming along might spark some new life and energy into the commission that we could use.”

Sturgeon is equally optimistic about Marten’s background and experience, feeling that their values align on many levels.

“I love that she spent so many years as an educator at the building level, whether it was in the classroom or as a principal. I think that experience makes her exactly the kind of person we need to lead education policy,” Sturgeon added. “The fact that she comes from a big state, and then [Washington D.C.] and then tiny Delaware — I just hope that she finds working in such a small state gratifying because we all do know each other, and we can get things done because of our proximity to all the various stakeholders and all the various levels of power.”

State Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), chair of the House Education Committee and co-chair of PEFC with Sturgeon, believes Delaware will be an adjustment for Marten, but she’s confident in her ability to adapt.

“It’s a challenge. It’s gonna be a challenge for anyone new, especially coming from out of state. She’s going to have to meet all the superintendents, all the charter [schools], all the stakeholders, get to know the ins and outs of government in Delaware, but if she can do that in [Washington D.C.], Delaware should probably be a little simpler to manage,” Williams said.

House Republican Leader Tim Dukes (R-Laurel) says he is impressed with Marten’s resume and is looking forward to working with her, but questions remain about how she will work within a small state like Delaware.

“It’ll be interesting to see what the new secretary brings in new ideas and how she she functions and gets along with our superintendents and our leaders of schools, and then also the General Assembly. So we’re open and we welcome her here and look forward to working with her, but we have a lot of questions just because of the unknown.”

Stephanie Ingram, President of the Delaware State Education Association, was able to sit down with Marten and discuss her approach and commended the high marks she earned from the National education Association and other pro-union organizations.

“Based on our conversations, I believe Deputy Secretary Marten will quickly become a strong partner for public educators as we continue working  to raise educator pay, improve school climates, reform Delaware’s antiquated and inequitable education funding formula, and ensure all students have an opportunity to succeed,” Ingram said in a statement.

Several other educational stakeholders have released statements in support of Marten’s nomination, including the Delaware Charter Schools Network (DCSN) and non-profit organization First State Educate.

“As we welcome Ms. Marten to Delaware, we hope to see continued support for charter schools as we work together to ensure all children in our state have access to the quality education they deserve. We are confident that her leadership, along with Governor-elect Meyer’s vision, will help drive the changes necessary to make education more equitable, accessible, and effective for all Delaware students. We look forward to working with Secretary Marten as we continue to build a brighter future for Delaware’s students,” a statement from DCSN reads.

Marten must gain final approval from the Delaware Senate in a confirmation hearing later this month.

Meyer nor Marten were available for additional comment.

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When Delaware lawmakers banned the sale of assault-style weapons and limited gun magazine sizes to 17 rounds in 2022, firearms rights advocates insisted the new laws were unconstitutional and would not withstand legal challenges.

Sure enough, they promptly sued in U.S. District Court in Wilmington. While the case began winding through the system, they attempted to get a preliminary injunction to prevent the laws from taking effect. But a federal judge rejected that bid, and so did the 3rd U.S. Circuit of Appeals.

Undeterred, a group of gun owners and Second Amendment advocates, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court decisions.

But this week, the nation’s highest court declined.

The justices also declined to review federal court decisions upholding Maryland’s handgun licensing requirements, which were a model for Delaware’s permit-to-purchase law that passed last year. The Delaware law is also facing a lawsuit by gun advocacy groups, including the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association.

So with all three Delaware laws still intact — even though the lawsuits remain active — the state’s gun control advocates are ecstatic.

“We’re doing great work in this movement, and the Supreme Court is saying, ‘yeah, you’re doing great work, and it’s constitutional,’’’ said Traci Murphy, director of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence.

Attorney General Kathy Jennings seconded that notion.

“The gun safety laws that have been passed have been overwhelmingly popular in our state,’’ Jennings told WHYY News. “And so this is yet another failure by the gun lobby to take away those safety measures.”

The Supreme Court petition regarding the two Delaware laws asked the justices to consider “whether the infringement of Second Amendment rights constitutes per se irreparable injury.”

Murphy said the only harm is to those who want to sell the expensive assault-style weapons.

“The only reason people are advocating for access to assault weapons is to line the pockets of the gun industry,’’ Murphy said. “They make more money when they sell bigger weapons. The only irreparable harm that’s happening, if you even consider it to be irreparable, is to people who are losing out on the money they would have made by selling weapons that are designed to kill people.”

Though the high court declined to weigh in, David Thompson, the lead attorney for the firearms rights advocates, told WHYY News that the fight on that principle isn’t over.

“We continue to believe that a deprivation of rights secured by the United States Constitution constitutes irreparable injury, and we look forward to vindicating that principle in future litigation,’’ Thompson said.

I once saw a greeting card that read: “Home is where you start”. That’s a pretty simple statement, and also, a pretty profound thought.

Home is the place where the tracks of your character and the DNA of your value system are laid down – it’s the place that surrounds you and protects you.

It’s an incubator: through its windows you get a glimpse of the world before you have to step out into it – you can see The Possibilities – and when you are ready – when it is time, you walk out its door into that world – to become all you can be – all you are capable of.

Delaware is home. 

And now for the final time, Jill and I, nurtured and chiseled by the State, have come home to stay – with gratitude and love for the opportunities you have given us to listen, to learn, and to lead.

You celebrated with me in 1972 when I was elected to the US Senate at 29 years old – you mourned with me 6 weeks later at the death of my wife and baby daughter. Your grief washed over me and helped heal my soul – and 5 years later, your joy at my marriage to Jill sealed my heart.

BIDEN SAYS GOODBYE: Watch the president’s farewell address from the Oval Office

MORE ON THE PRESIDENT: There won’t be another Joe Biden. His legacy from local Delaware politician to president

You marched with me in parades from Hockessin to Laurel, you ate with me at the Italian and Greek festivals, manned the booth with me at the Harrington Fair – stood beside me when I was bent but not broken, stood behind me when I need that extra push of courage, stood in front of me when I needed to listen and follow your wisdom.

You, my fellow Delawareans, have been the wind beneath my wings. We are a nation of promise and possibilities, of dreamers and doers, of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. That’s what you showed me.

So Delaware, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you. It has been the privilege of my life to represent you, as a County Councilman, US Senator, Vice President of the United States and President of the United States.

Because of you, Delaware will forever be written on my heart.

I’ll see you back home. 

Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States and a lifelong Delawarean. He will be returning to the First State when he exits office on Jan. 20.