All six charter schools up for renewal this academic year have been renewed by the state secretary of education. In the State Board of Education’s monthly meeting Thursday night, Education Secretary Mark Holodick gave the final OK on Kuumba Academy, Positive Outcomes Charter School, First State Military Academy, Sussex Montessori School, Freire Charter School and Great Oaks Charter School to …
Survey: Bus contractors south of canal need insurance funds
School bus contractors are hoping to get about an additional $500,000 from the state to cover vehicle insurance costs. The request reflects a survey presented in Thursday’s Public School Transportation Committee meeting. The contractors say costs are higher than the state allots; some companies are requiring higher levels of premiums to cover special needs students, potential child abuse and acts …
Colonial details Feb. 29 referendum to raise revenue
Colonial School District is the latest to detail an operating and capital referendum to be held early next year. In the district’s school board meeting Tuesday night, the board voted a phased approach to a local tax increase, with a spike of 25 cents per $100 of assessed property value in fiscal year 2025, 10 cents in fiscal year 2026 …
Appo referendum fails, preliminary voting results show
In a narrow outcome, the residents of Appoquinimink School District voted against all three questions on the ballot of Tuesday’s referendum, which would have raised taxes $435 per year for the average homeowner if successful. “Obviously there is a lot of disappointment in the room tonight,” said Appo Superintendent Matt Burrows in a statement after the preliminary results were made …
Adding $500M+ more into education likely matter for legislature
A long-awaited report release from the American Institutes for Research on school funding has shown that Delaware needs to allocate anywhere from $590 million to $1 billion more into education. That’s between a 27% and 46% increase from the multi-billion dollar investment the state already has in public education, which is typically about a third of the state budget. The …
Report: State should put more $$$ into schools, allot by student need
The Delaware Department of Education on Monday released a heavily anticipated independent study of Delaware’s education funding system that, among other things, the state should put more money into education, allocate money according to student need and allow districts flexibility in how that money is used. The $700,000 study by the American Institutes for Research was a part of the …
UD climbs 31 spots to No. 47 in U.S. college R&D
The University of Delaware is climbing the national rankings for best universities for research and development. The National Science Foundation recently released its Higher Education Research and Development Survey findings, which ranks the Blue Hens 47 out of 626 academic institutions across the country for non-medical school research and development expenditures. That caveat is because UD does not have a …
Brandywine to hold election in Feb. to raise taxes
The residents of Brandywine School District will have the opportunity to vote for or against a raise in taxes at a special election on Feb. 13, 2024. The district is seeking to raise $15,625,549 of local revenue “to support ongoing district operations.” If passed, those that live in the district will have their local school taxes increased a total of …
$26.5 Million EastSide STEM hub to open in 1 year
Those passing the crossroads of North Claymont Street and Todds Lane in the Riverside neighborhood of Wilmington this past year have probably noticed a fleet of excavators, metal beams, and lots and lots of dirt. That’s because EastSide Charter School is making significant progress on its construction of a new $26.5 million hub for Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). …
Report on school funding changes to be released Tuesday
A mounting sense of anticipation surrounds Tuesday’s release of a report making suggestions about how to improve Delaware’s school funding system to make state education more equitable. The assessment — which the state paid $700,000 for — was conducted by the national research firm American Institutes of Research. It sprange out of the settlement of a 2020 lawsuit that …