DOVER — The Delaware Senate voted Tuesday to create a committee to review how public schools are funded.

The current formula used in the First State is more than 70 years old and focuses on school censuses and not what each student needs, according to the sponsor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 201, Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Woodbrook.

Her measure would develop a group of legislators, educators, community leaders and other advocates to research how educational facilities receive funding and make recommendations. It would be called the “Public Education Funding Commission.”

Sen. Sturgeon, also the chair of the Senate Education Committee, hopes the initiative will drive reform.

“In my 25 years as a public school teacher, I saw firsthand how the incredibly complex and inequitable system that Delaware uses to fund public education is failing to meet the needs of students and contributing to widespread burnout among educators,” she said.

“Over the last five years, the courts, independent researchers and community members have all weighed in and consistently confirmed what our public educators have been telling us for decades,” she continued. “The time has come for us to stop kicking this can down the road and start working on real systemic reforms that will improve Delaware’s schools.

“The Public Education Funding Commission will do that by bringing advocates and experts together to develop a multiyear plan that the legislature and Delaware’s next governor can follow to bring about the transformative changes that we all agree will be needed in the years ahead.”

The current funding formula is based on enrollment and on how much money is needed to provide education to a “unit” made up of a set number of students, with little regard to the level of need among the children who make up that population.

The state and federal governments provide about 70% of the funding, while the rest is generated through district-level property taxes set by voters during referendums and collected by the counties.

SCR 201 stems from legal action over the last six years. In 2018, the Delaware NAACP, Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and others filed a lawsuit arguing that, by ignoring individual student need and local funding capacity, the state’s public school fiscal system is unfair to the disadvantaged and violates the state constitution.

In 2020, Carney administration officials settled the lawsuit, by agreeing to permanently allocate additional state funding based on the number of low-income and multilingual learners at a given school and expand special education funding in kindergarten through third grade, among other changes.

Part of the settlement created an independent assessment of the education funding system, which was completed in 2023. That review, according to Sen. Sturgeon, declared that the settlement did not go far enough to address students’ needs.

Therefore, the proposed Public Education Funding Commission would be composed of 31 members, including legislators, cabinet secretaries, parents, educators, principals, district administrators and advocates.

If now passed by the House of Representatives, SCR 201 would require the commission to hold its first meeting no later than Oct. 1 and issue its first set of recommendations within a year, so they could be considered in the governor’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2027.

“During the last several years, we have passed numerous measures and have committed meaningful investments to support students of all ages and abilities. While these have been critical steps, the fundamental issue lies in how we fund public education in our state,” said the resolution’s co-sponsor, Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, who also co-chairs the Joint Finance Committee.

“The Public Education Funding Commission will help us create a more equitable system that truly meets the needs of all students and educators. I commend Sen. Sturgeon and all the stakeholders for working on this issue and look forward to the work of the commission.”

The resolution is now awaiting consideration in the House.

A bill that was recently introduced in the Delaware Legislature and aims to include a Muslim holiday as a state-recognized legal holiday has gotten a recent update.  

Here’s what to know about the bill’s recent changes. 

What is House Bill 360?  

House Bill 360, introduced on March 27 and primarily sponsored by State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton of the 26th district, aims to add Eid ul-Fitr to the list of state holidays. The legal holiday would be observed for one day during the first full day of Eid ul-Fitr. 

The legal holidays currently recognized by the State of Delaware are: 

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day   

• Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July   

• Return Day, observed after noon for state employees living and/or working in Sussex County  

• The day after Thanksgiving   

Previous coverage: A bill aims to add a new legal holiday to the state of Delaware. Here’s what to know

Although the State of Delaware grants state employees two floating holidays per calendar year, recognizing Eid ul-Fitr as a legal holiday allows those who observe the holiday to save their floating holidays for other personal matters. 

According to a fiscal note from the Office of the Controller General that examines state employee payroll system data, adding one state holiday to Delaware’s calendar would cost $712,532. 

One step closer to alcohol delivery: Delaware could become 33rd state to allow home delivery of in-state alcoholic beverages

How has HB 360 changed? 

HB 360 originally included both Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as potential new state holidays, but Wilson-Anton filed an amendment on May 22 to change the bill to include Eid ul-Fitr only.

On June 20, House Substitute 1 for HB 360 was filed by Wilson-Anton in the House of Representatives, making the bill inclusive of other cultural holidays. Under House Substitute 1, one floating holiday would be removed from the two granted to state employees and one legal holiday would be added.

The added legal holiday would rotate on a three-year basis between Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, which occurs on different days between October and November each year; Eid ul-Fitr, which occurs on different days annually and is celebrated in accordance with the 10th month of the Islamic calendar when the new moon is seen; and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for Jews, observed annually on the 10th day of the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar, which varies each year and usually occurs in September or October. 

This makes it so that only one of the above cultural holidays would be considered a legal state holiday in any given year as opposed to all three being recognized in one calendar year. If the bill is passed, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.  

Further voting on the substituted bill has yet to take place.  

Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys’tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com.     

100 Years Ago, 1924: “Wonder when this burg will get rid of her hitching-posts?” mused an old-timer yesterday afternoon as he stood at Sixth Street and Edgmont Avenue and gave one of the town’s few remaining curb stone decorations the once over with both glimmers. “Been a mighty long time since that one had a hoss hitched up to it I’ll bet a hat of clover seed,” said the gentlemen from out Catertown way as he fished for his inky black tobacco and took a he-man’s bite.

75 Years Ago, 1949: The summer heat wave claimed one life in Delaware County on Sunday as the mercury reached an official 98 in Chester at 2 p.m. This was a new 1949 record, a new all-time record for June 26, and just eight degrees below the all-time high for the area. The previous record June 26 was 85 degrees in 1904, while the all-time high is 106 degrees recorded on Aug. 7, 1918.

50 Years Ago, 1974: A young Marine, working part time as a carnival employee, was critically injured Wednesday night by an amusement ride at Our Lady of Charity Church Fair in Brookhaven. Police said Stephen Clocksin, 18, an Illinois resident stationed at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, was riding with a girl on a car of “The Sizzler” about 10:30 p.m. Clocksin, who was operator of the ride, opened the lap bar, police said, and was thrown to the ground before the ride stopped. The next car of the ride — which is a series of cars which whirled around from a central pedestal about five feet from the ground — struck him in the head, apparently dragging him for some distance.

25 Years Ago, 1999: Chester City Council has approved a resolution to contract with a Bala Cynwyd firm for $24,180 to implement the final phase in bringing city finances into the computer age. Jones, Hayward & Lenzi Business Services Inc. will review the city’s current processing functions and assist the city with implementation of the Pentamation computer system in the city’s finance department and related offices.

10 Years Ago, 2014: More than 70 residents, local officials and environmental groups gathered at the West Goshen Township building Thursday night to learn more about the local fight against Sunoco Pipeline’s Mariner East Project. The community meeting, held by the Chester County Community Coalition, was a chance for those to learn more about the community’s fight against the Sunoco Mariner East pipeline and pump station proposed at Boot Road and Route 202.

— COLIN AINSWORTH