Delaware
Delaware keeps failing our kids. It has to stop | Opinion
3-minute read
What’s still left to do after state legislature spring recess ends
Lawmakers will be out of the office come March 31. What awaits them when they get back?
Delaware looks prosperous on paper. Our GDP per capita ranks near the top nationally. But from 2000 to 2024, Delaware’s real GDP per capita grew just 1% — dead last in America. The national average was 37%. North Dakota grew 104%. Virginia grew 33%. North Carolina grew 26%.
That gap is the story. Delaware has been living off an economy it inherited while failing to build the workforce it needs for the future.
This is not just a school problem. It is an economic problem, a taxpayer problem and a leadership problem.
Delaware’s 2024 labor-force participation rate was 59.6%, the lowest since recordkeeping began in 1976. The state says it has more open jobs than jobseekers. In a state where government is the largest employer, headline numbers can disguise a weaker private-sector engine. In plain English: Delaware does not have enough workers with the skills employers need.
Delaware is failing our students
That failure starts early.
Only 26% of Delaware fourth graders read proficiently. As many as 45% score below basic. Eighth-grade reading scores hit a 27-year low in 2024. Only 34% of students in grades 3 through 8 are proficient in math.
When children do not learn to read, the bill does not disappear — it compounds. Delaware now has 54,000 prime-age adults who have left the labor force. State research estimates that costs us roughly $450 million a year in lost earnings, productivity and tax revenue. Every Delawarean pays twice: once when schools under-deliver, again when the consequences show up in corrections, homelessness, emergency healthcare, thinner tax base — and the dignity of a job.
Delaware spends about $20,577 per public school student — more than Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Let us stop pretending this is mainly a funding problem. It is a performance problem. Performance problems do not get fixed by writing larger checks to systems that are not held accountable.
To his credit, Gov. Matt Meyer has acknowledged the crisis. He declared a literacy emergency, launched the Delaware Early Literacy Plan, and backed new reading funding. Those are real steps. But Delaware has seen plans before, and the state’s own education leadership concedes that scores remain essentially flat. A one-point bump is not a turnaround. It is a rounding error.
Delaware does not lack plans. It lacks consequences.
Mississippi and Louisiana have shown the country what serious reform looks like. Mississippi climbed from 49th in fourth-grade reading in 2013 to the top 10 by 2024 — while spending less per student than Delaware. Louisiana went from last in 2019 to 16th in five years, and is the only state to fully recover from pandemic learning loss and surpass pre-pandemic scores. They aligned teacher training to the science of reading, adopted strong instructional materials, built transparent accountability and stopped pretending it was compassion to promote children who could not read.
The lesson is not about better messaging. It is about better systems, better measurement, the political will to keep going when resistance starts and more engaged business leaders.
Delaware’s stated goal is to raise third-grade reading proficiency from 38% to 53% by 2028. Fine. Who owns that number? Who is responsible for hitting it? What happens if they miss?
A target without a consequence is not accountability. It is public relations.
Will Delaware leaders commit to helping our children?
So here is a direct question for every governor, every legislator and every elected official whose name appears on a ballot: Will you stake your career on this? Will you commit, publicly and on the record, to being judged by whether Delaware’s children are measurably better off in eight years?
If that sounds like too much, consider what eight years means for a child. A third grader today who cannot read on grade level will be entering eleventh grade in 2033 — carrying the same deficit, the same narrowed future the data already predicts. Eight years is not an abstraction. It is the entire arc of a young person’s formative education.
Real accountability means public goals, quarterly reporting, named decision-makers and consequences for failure. It means a governor and legislature willing to say: here is the number, here is who owns it, here is how we will report it, here is what happens if we fail.
Mississippi was the poorest state in America. It decided that was not an excuse. Delaware is wealthier, smaller and easier to govern. We have even less excuse.
The excuses are exhausted. Delaware deserves better.
Ben duPont is a longtime Delawarean, a venture capitalist and a philanthropist. State Sen. Darius Brown represents the Second Senate District, which includes New Castle, Wilmington and Edgemoor.
When successfully remediated and redeveloped, brownfields are placed back into productive use, like the UD STAR Campus building depicted here occupying the site of a former automotive assembly plant /Delaware DNREC photo
Early-bird Registration for Conference Ends June 30
Environmental professionals, developers, municipal leaders, policymakers and community stakeholders are invited to register now for the Delaware Brownfield Conference to take place Thursday, Aug. 20 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Registration and conference details are available on the de.gov/brownfields webpage.
Hosted by the DNREC Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances, the conference offers a full day of practical learning, networking and collaboration focused on redevelopment outcomes.
The conference will also highlight how Delaware’s Brownfield Development Program is helping move projects forward by supporting the cleanup and redevelopment, reuse or expansion of properties that may be perceived to be environmentally contaminated, and turning abandoned and underused sites into new opportunities for commercial use, housing, jobs and local investment.
That value is underscored by a recently published study, “Economic Impact on Delaware’s Economy: The Brownfield Program 2025.” Commissioned by DNREC and prepared by the University of Delaware’s Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research, the study reviewed 113 brownfield sites with remediation completed between 2015 and 2022 and found significant increases in property values, along with gains in employment and tax revenues. For example, the report found the studied sites supported 5,853 jobs in 2022 and paid more than $2.3 million more in county property taxes in 2024 than in their completion year. Attendees can learn more about these findings and related topics at the conference.
Early registration discounts are available through June 30, including general admission early-bird pricing and a special rate for students and government/nonprofit professionals who register by the deadline.
Sponsorship opportunities are also available for organizations that want to be supportive of the conference and brownfield redevelopment. Sponsorship levels include benefits such as conference registration, promotion in the program and email marketing and exhibit space. For sponsorship information, email Melissa Leckie of the Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances.
About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances ensures Delaware’s wastes are managed to protect human life, health, safety and the environment. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, or LinkedIn.
Media Contacts: Alyssa Imprescia, Alyssa.imprescia@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov
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Wednesday, June 10, 2026 10:59AM
LEWES, Del. (WPVI) — The Delaware Bay has a new defense in the case of a potential oil spill.
The Delaware Responder was officially christened on Tuesday in Lewes.
The 65-foot oil spill response boat carries 2,000 feet of boom, which helps contain an oil spill.
The Delaware Bay and River Cooperative, a non-profit group made up of companies that receive, produce or transport oil on the Delaware River and Bay, said the boat also has onboard oil storage for recovery operations.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
The mother of Nola Dinkins was found guilty of murdering her 3-year-old daughter, who was falsely reported to be kidnapped in Delaware in June 2025, according to court records.
Darrian Randle was found guilty by a Maryland jury of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse for the death of Dinkins, who was falsely reported to be missing after an abduction in Newark, Delaware, prosecutors said.
The amber alert set off a dayslong search for the girl, but Randle eventually admitted to beating Dinkins to death in Maryland and then tried to fake a kidnapping, officials said at the time.
Human remains that were consistent with an emaciated child and completely wrapped in saran wrap were ultimately found n a suitcase in the area of Dune Drive in North East, Cecil County, Maryland, officials said.
Randle’s boyfriend, Cedrick Britten, is also facing charges in the case and has yet to go to trial.
Randle remains in custody and will be sentenced on Oct. 2, 2026, according to court records.
Darrian Randle allegedly admitted to beating her 3-year-old daughter Nola Dinkins to death before putting the girl’s body in a suitcase. NBC10’s Tim Furlong speaks with neighbors of the woman’s boyfriend, who police say helped her hide the body.
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