Delaware

Governor's office opts not to fund more social work positions within DOJ, cites lack of data

Published

2 years ago

February 12, 2024

Governor's office opts not to fund more social work positions within DOJ, cites lack of data

Gov. John Carney’s FY25 budget plan did not include money for additional victim service specialists (VSS) in the Department of Justice (DOJ), but the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is reconsidering.

Attorney General Kathy Jennings is requesting around $645,000 to replace two expiring grant funded positions in the victim compensation assistance program and add six new positions to support the work of the criminal and family divisions.

State Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown) was among the committee members to express their disappointment about the lack of recommended funding.

“We have spent a lot of time as legislators on issues regarding sexual abuse and domestic violence, child abuse, neglect – we spend a lot of time with that, and to not see that reflected over in the recommended column was shocking and disappointing,” she says.

“One of the things they don’t teach you in law school is how to be a victim service specialist or a social worker, and there’s good reason for that — because there are individuals who are trained to be social workers and victim service specialists. They are the one’s who literally hold the hands of victims of violence and other people in the community who need help to be able to stand back on their feet… so whatever we can do to help you on this, I am committed to doing, because I know the value that these individuals bring,” adds State Rep. Krista Griffith (D-Wilmington).

Office of Management and Budget Director Cerron Cade says while he agrees the positions are important, OMB did not receive any year-over-year case growth data to justify funding the new positions.

“I’m completely open to continuing the conversation throughout this process, and if we can get that information that would justify this level of growth, I think everybody here would probably be supportive,” Cade says.

Later in the hearing, Chief Deputy Attorney General Alex Mackler explained current social workers receive 16 new cases in a month, and that number is growing.

“They have 275 of those cases in a year. That is a completely and totally unsustainable number for any single social worker to have, so we are in desperate need of more of those social workers,” he says.

Mackler adds DOJ currently does not staff any family division social workers below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and with the increase in juvenile violence, the department sees a need to fill those gaps.

The Department is also requesting permission to utilize their own $330,900 in appropriated special funds to back pay victim service specialists who did not receive initial pay increases after a series of position reclassifications in 2020.

There was a two-year delay in implementing those raises, and while paralegals and administrators received back pay for the delays, social workers are still waiting.

“We have exhausted every conventional option to deliver them this money — all of our efforts have been rebuffed. It is high time to make that right,” Jennings says.

Cade says once the reclassifications were approved, DOJ requested the payments start from the application date, not the approval date, which caused some discrepancies.

He says the back pay made out to the other employees was not approved by OMB and actually violates existing epilogue language.

Cade says instead, the office offered to provide retention bonuses to the affected social workers, which he says DOJ and the Department of Human Resources agreed to, but he adds there still seems to be concern that the retention bonuses do not provide enough compensation.

DOJ is no longer pursuing the payments from the general fund, but they are instead requesting permission to use their own funds to provide the back pay.

“The fraud division has found the necessary money to compensate the VSS workers, that’s where the $300,000 comes from, but it requires your consent,” Jennings told JFC.

DOJ is also requesting close to $2.5 million to increase senior attorney pay. Currently, deputy attorneys general and supervisors salaries are capped below that of the elected Attorney General, and Jennings hopes to rectify that.

She says this practice is uncommon in most states — highest-level attorneys generally make more than the attorney general.

“It is wrong that professional staff have to wait for a politician to get a raise before they can be fairly compensated,” Jennings says.

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Delaware

Thomas Jefferson University to run Delaware’s first medical school

Published

44 minutes ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Thomas Jefferson University to run Delaware’s first medical school

Thomas Jefferson University is opening a regional campus of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Delaware, an effort that will result in the state’s first medical school.

Jefferson beat out three other bidders to establish the four-year program in partnership with the state. The other bidders were the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, Spotlight Delaware reported.

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The inaugural class of 40 medical students will begin instruction in July 2028. Initially, the campus will be based at the University of Delaware in Newark, with Jefferson faculty providing instruction. A permanent home for the campus is still being finalized, the Inquirer reported.

The medical students will receive 18 months of preclinical training on campus before receiving clinical training from healthcare providers in Delaware’s southern counties, where the state’s physician shortage is most deeply felt. That shortage is compounded by an aging population, Delaware officials said.

“Jefferson is committed to being part of the solution to Delaware’s physician shortage,” Jefferson CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione said in a statement. “We are proud to help build a future where every Delawarean has access to the care they deserve. Jefferson is all in.”

The school’s creation is being supported by $157.4 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Delaware is one of three states without a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program. Since the late 1960s, Jefferson and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine have reserved seats for Delaware students.

“Sidney Kimmel Medical College has trained generations of physicians for more than 200 years, more than any other medical college in the country,” Said Ibrahim, dean of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, said in a statement. “It is a privilege to bring our mission to Delaware’s patients and communities.”

Jefferson has announced several expansions recently. The university is establishing a full-time doctor of nursing practice-nurse anesthesia program and several online graduate programs at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Center for Healthcare Education in Lehigh County. It also is opening a satellite respiratory therapy lab at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown.

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Delaware

Delaware is getting its first medical school, with classes set to start in 2028

Published

11 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

Delaware is getting its first medical school, with classes set to start in 2028

Delaware officials said medical students will start their classroom instruction at UD and then do their clinical training at offices and health care systems in Kent and Sussex counties, where the shortage of doctors is most acute.

However, ChristianaCare, which has its own partnership with Jefferson, is not participating. The state’s largest health care system was part of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s unsuccessful bid to operate the school. In a joint statement from ChristianaCare and PCOM, the two organizations expressed disappointment with not being part of the consortium of higher education institutions and healthcare organizations.

“The path forward raises genuine questions about whether the school’s goals can be fully realized without ChristianaCare’s meaningful participation in its clinical training mission,” it said. “The success of any four-year medical program depends not just on an academic institution, but on a true and committed partnership with its clinical partners — one built on shared mission, mutual investment and trust developed over time.”

Students in the first class can get their tuition subsidized, covering all of their education costs, in exchange for an agreement to work in rural Delaware for five years.

Running the medical school is expected to cost Jefferson $78 million over the next five years. The money is from a federal rural health grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which congressional Republicans created in the so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.”

The program will give $50 billion to every state over five years, though exactly the total each will eventually receive is unclear. Half of the money is to be distributed equally to states and the other half is awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services based on a variety of factors.

The state applied for $1 billion late last year to improve health care in Kent and Sussex counties. The Trump administration has so far allocated Delaware $157 million. Delaware is expected to receive at least $500 million over the life of the fund.

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