Mark Holodick announced the renewals at the State Board of Education meeting Thursday.

All 6 charters up for renewal to continue operation

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

Bus contractors in Delaware are seeking more state help for insurance costs.

Survey: Bus contractors south of canal need insurance funds 

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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's referendum will take place Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Colonial details Feb. 29 referendum to raise revenue

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

Unofficial results show that Appoquinimink School District's referendum failed.

Appo referendum fails, preliminary voting results show

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

Drew Atchison from the American Institutes for Research presented the report on Delaware education funding Tuesday.

Adding $500M+ more into education likely matter for legislature

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

School funding

Report: State should put more $$$ into schools, allot by student need

Betsy PriceEducation, Headlines

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 has been ranked 47th in the nation for research and development. Photo courtesy of University of Delaware.

UD climbs 31 spots to No. 47 in U.S. college R&D

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

If voted for, the annual tax increase for most Brandywine residents would be less than $200.

Brandywine to hold election in Feb. to raise taxes

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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 …

EastSide's STEM Hub will open in January 2025.

$26.5 Million EastSide STEM hub to open in 1 year

Jarek RutzHeadlines, Education

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). …

School funding

Report on school funding changes to be released Tuesday

Betsy PriceEducation, Headlines

  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 …