Skepticism Reigns at Public Meeting to Hear About the School Redistricting Proposals

Brandywine Parents, Teachers and Residents Met to Hear About the Redistricting Proposals from the Redding Consortium Co-Chairs

Wilmington, DE – Officials, educators, and families packed a Brandywine School District workshop at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School on Monday, December 8^th.  This was a high-stakes discussion about how to redraw school district lines in Wilmington and northern New Castle County—changes that could reshape governance, funding, and opportunity for thousands of students.  The Multipurpose Room was overflowing with several hundred parents and community members.  Overflow went to the Cafeteria, which was also “standing room only”.  It was reported that another 600 participants joined via Zoom.

The session, led by members of the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity, focused on three redistricting options now under consideration and the broader effort to close deep academic gaps between low‑income and more affluent schools. Legislators emphasized that, while opinions differ sharply on how to move forward, the work is driven by a shared commitment to students.

“We may have different perspectives and different concerns, or different tactical ideas about how we get to the finish line,” said Jason Heller, President of the Brandywine School District Board. “But we all share the same fundamental goals in our heart—that every child, no matter where they live or their circumstances, receives the benefits of an excellent education and the opportunity to thrive.”

What the Redding Consortium is tasked to do

The Redding Consortium, created by the Delaware General Assembly in 2019, has a statutory mission to promote educational equity and improve outcomes for all pre‑K through 12 students in northern New Castle County, including the city of Wilmington. By law, one of its core responsibilities is to develop a redistricting proposal for Wilmington and the surrounding districts.

“The consortium doesn’t have a choice about whether to propose a redistricting plan,” said Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman (D-SD, Consortium co‑chair. “It’s the consortium’s assigned job by law.” The legislation establishing the group passed unanimously in both chambers and has been amended several times since, also with unanimous votes, primarily to extend deadlines so that members could gather more data and public input.  Sen. Lockman was joined by co-chair Matt Denn (former Lt. Governor) and Representative Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-RD1) as a guest legislator.  Several other legislators were present, including Sen. Dan Cruce (D-SD1) and, Rep. Melanie Ross Levin (D-RD10).  Sen. Ray Siegfreid (D-SD5) and Rep. Debra Heffernan (D-RD6) were present on Zoom.

To illustrate why the work is considered urgent, the presenters highlighted achievement data from Brandywine elementary schools. At the three schools with the lowest levels of student poverty, average reading proficiency is just over 54 percent and math proficiency just under 53 percent. At the three schools with the highest poverty levels, average reading proficiency falls to roughly 30 percent and math to about 27 percent—roughly half the rate of their more affluent counterparts.

“I doubt if there is anyone in this room who thinks those numbers are acceptable,” a presenter said. While noting that Brandywine’s disparities are smaller than those in some neighboring districts, they stressed that the pattern—achievement tracking closely with poverty—runs through northern New Castle County and is precisely what the consortium was formed to address.

• “Fragmentation of school districts in and around the city of Wilmington has itself become a root cause that has worsened conditions… It just makes it harder for nonprofits and service agencies to do their work.” – Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (guest legislator, speaking in support)

How any plan would move forward

Even once the consortium settles on a favored option, the redistricting plan will be advisory, not self‑executing. The process has multiple layers of review.

First, the consortium will recommend a specific, detailed plan to the State Board of Education. The state board must then undertake a full public process and vote on whether to approve it. Only if the state board gives its approval will the plan move to the General Assembly, which must also vote to adopt it. If the state board rejects or modifies the proposal, it would be sent back to the consortium to be revised.

By statute, the plan must also be highly specific. The law requires a “transition, resource, and implementation plan” covering 13 subject areas, including transportation strategy, detailed resource allocations from state, district, and local sources, and clear timelines and responsibilities for every phase of implementation. One non‑negotiable requirement, the presenters emphasized, is that no student currently attending a school will be forced to leave it because of boundary changes; students will be able to remain at their existing school through the school’s terminal grade.

Getting to the point of choosing a single set of district lines has been a slow process. Between the consortium’s full body and its four subcommittees, there have been 46 public meetings over the last three years. Members have methodically narrowed a wide range of possible maps to the three options now on the table, using criteria developed with community members and research partners.

The consortium is now weighing three broad models:

• Brandywine–Red Clay option:

All four current districts—Brandywine, Red Clay, Christina, and Colonial—would keep their existing outer footprints. However, responsibility for educating Wilmington students now assigned to Christina and Colonial would shift to Red Clay and Brandywine. State funding tied to those students would follow them, and consortium leaders said their working assumption is that any additional costs related to higher‑need student populations would be covered by the state, not by the receiving districts.

• Metropolitan Wilmington School District:

Brandywine and Red Clay would be consolidated into a single district serving the city of Wilmington and the suburbs currently within those two systems. Students from Christina and Colonial who live in the city would also be absorbed into this new metropolitan district.

• Northern New Castle County Consolidated School District:

All four districts that currently serve Wilmington—Brandywine, Red Clay, Christina, and Colonial—would be combined into a single large district encompassing most of northern New Castle County.

Both consolidation options (options 2 & 3) seek to unify governance across a broader geography, while the Brandywine–Red Clay option keeps more pieces of the existing structure in place. In all three models, Christina would cease serving Wilmington students.

Promised benefits: more access, less fragmentation

Supporters of the consolidation concepts argue that they would create significant new opportunities for students by expanding access to specialized programs now locked within district boundaries, as well as shifting more dollars to classrooms.

Today, language immersion, gifted education, arts pathways, and career‑focused programs are often limited to students who live inside the hosting district or who can navigate complex choice and transportation hurdles. Under a consolidated northern county district, for example, Brandywine families could more easily access Red Clay’s magnet and charter programs, Christina’s Chinese immersion pathway, or Colonial’s early career offerings.

“More schools means more choices,” Sen. Lockman said. “Fewer boundaries means fewer hurdles of bureaucracy to navigate.” The stated goal is to maintain programs that are working well, while “scaling and improving access” rather than narrowing it.

On the financial side, the consortium has asked consultants to estimate both the costs of “leveling up” salaries—so that teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff across merged districts would be paid at the highest existing rate—and the potential savings from reducing duplicative central‑office positions over time through attrition and transfers. Leaders were candid that, initially, the cost increases would likely outweigh savings but argued that the net effect would be to “give raises to a lot of school personnel who deserve them, and to shift the overall mix of funds away from district‑level administration and toward frontline educators.”

• “We expect that the leveling-up part of the equation — which we anticipate the consortium will propose to be borne by the state, not the districts — will outweigh the savings. We’ll just say that up front.” – Sen. Tizzy Lockman

At the same time, Mr. Denn stressed that broader research on district size and performance is mixed, and that any decision must be grounded in careful analysis. Another noted that, while evidence on large‑district cost savings varies, there is clearer evidence that fragmented governance structures can depress outcomes and contribute to inequities—precisely the problem they say they are trying to solve in Wilmington.

Concerns about cost, scale, and risk

Board members voiced skepticism about whether consolidation at the scale being proposed could deliver either savings or better achievement. Jason Heller, BSD President, cited multiple studies and state reports indicating that large‑district mergers often increase costs due to transportation, salary equalization, and transition expenses, with little evidence of academic gains—particularly once districts grow beyond a moderate size.

• “I haven’t been able to find any verifiable example where consolidation at this scale resulted in any cost savings. In fact… the research seems to point the other way.” – Jason Heller (Board President)

Referencing national data showing that each of the involved districts is already much larger than the typical U.S. school system, Mr. Heller warned that a fully merged northern New Castle County district would rank among the nation’s largest. “I feel like the metropolitan and countywide options are by far the highest‑risk options under consideration,” he said, asking how Wilmington’s context would differ from other large mergers that struggled.

• “Show me the data that consolidation into a district of this size improves student achievement…there’s no real empirical evidence.” – Parent (referencing Memphis-Shelby merger & other studies)

In response, the consortium leaders said they had specifically tasked their financial consultants with reviewing the evidence from prior consolidations and applying it to Delaware’s data. They promised to release cost estimates and analysis before the consortium’s mid‑December vote.

“We did not come with counterexamples on savings tonight,” Sen. Lockman acknowledged, “but we know this is a completely legitimate question.” Another added that “coherent, academically focused governance does improve student outcomes,” stressing that careful design—not just lines on a map—would determine whether changes help or harm students.

• “You keep saying ‘the state is going to pay.’ Who the heck do you think the state is?” – Ralph Ackerman (board) echoing a parent

Other board members questioned why, if governance complexity is central to the problem, vocational‑technical and charter schools are not being folded into the redistricting conversation. Some also challenged the idea that state leaders effectively legislated redistricting as the solution without first proving, with data, that moving lines would fix the underlying issues.

Students with disabilities and vulnerable learners

Families of students with disabilities were another focus of the discussion. Consolidation could broaden access to specialized staff and programs, giving parents more options when one school’s approach is not working. But larger bureaucracies can also feel more distant and harder to navigate for parents already fighting to secure services.

Presenters reported spending several hours with parents and advocates discussing these tradeoffs. “There wasn’t unanimity about which of the three options would be best for students with disabilities,” one co‑chair said. “But there was unanimity that, whatever option is chosen, a lot of time needs to be spent ensuring the specific needs of children with disabilities are protected in very concrete ways.”

Beyond boundaries: programs and investments

Consortium leaders repeatedly stressed that redrawing district lines is only one part of their charge. They outlined several programmatic ideas they hope to include in a comprehensive plan, contingent on cost and state support:

• State‑funded, academically focused before‑ and after‑school programs in high‑needs schools across northern New Castle County.
• New elementary programs in Wilmington schools, including a day‑long gifted model modeled on Brandywine’s Mount Pleasant and Claymont programs, an arts‑focused elementary program, and specialized supports for students with language‑based learning disabilities.
• Expanded, high‑quality pre‑K in many or all elementary schools in any newly configured district.
• Salary premiums for high‑quality teachers and paraprofessionals who commit to working in high‑needs city schools.
• Possible reforms to choice and charter policies to ensure broader access to innovative school models.

Since 2021, the consortium has also advanced a series of funding recommendations already in place, directing what one leader estimated as roughly 93 percent of recommended dollars straight to the Department of Education and school districts for use in schools, rather than for the consortium’s own operations. “We’re proud of the programs that have been funded,” he said, emphasizing that students should not have to wait for structural reforms to begin seeing benefits.

What happens next

The December 16 vote is expected to narrow the field to a single redistricting model, around which the consortium will build a detailed proposal in the months that follow. Officials framed that decision point as both pivotal and only the start of the most intensive phase of their work.

“In some ways, this is just the beginning,” Sen. Lockman told the audience. “Ultimately, this work is about making sure the students who you and we care about have an opportunity to fulfill their potential and live out their dreams—not just some students, but all students in the greater New Castle County community.”

As the meeting moved into open discussion and board members began a round‑robin of questions, the underlying tension remained clear: nearly everyone in the room agreed that current outcomes for Wilmington’s most vulnerable students are unacceptable. The unresolved question is whether the sweeping changes now under consideration will truly create a fairer, more effective system—or introduce new instability into communities already under strain.  The concern that the Consortium was preparing to make a decision among the current options without either evidence of positive impacts of consolidation and without detailed financial analysis was echoed by MANY presenters in the Public Comment session.  After over 5 years of study, dozens – if not, hundreds – of meetings, there was clear concern that the process of moving from 9 options to 3 options to a recommendation lacked a clear, data-driven basis.

• “If there’s a secret plan, nobody told me about it… I don’t know how I’m going to vote on the 16th.” – Former Lt. Gov. Matt Denn

• “We are not proposing any school closures. We are not proposing any attendance-zone changes or forced busing.” – Sen. Tizzy Lockman

Public meetings will continue this week.  These meetings are a prelude to a Redding Consortium meeting scheduled for December 16^th, where a decision between three proposals will be made and this recommendation will be sent to the State Board of Education and, then, the General Assembly for further consideration and action.

Colonial School District Board of Education Meeting (In-Person with a Virtual Public Comment)

• Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2025
• Time: 6:30 p.m.
• Location: William Penn High School (Innovation Center)
• Address: 713 E. Basin Road New Castle, DE 19720
• School Board Website: https://www.colonialschooldistrict.org/about/board-of-education
• Agenda: https://go.boarddocs.com/de/colsd/Board.nsf/Public

New Castle County Vo-Tech-hosted Combined New Castle County School Boards Meeting (Hybrid)

• Date: Friday, December 12, 2025
• Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (the public meeting begins at 8:00 a.m.)
• Zoom: Https://nccvt-k12-de-zoom.us/j/89389418050?pwd=Qs3DnwrDF7K1MYABnlVMLHP7PL8oSB.1
• Location: Hilton Christiana
• Address: 100 Continental Dr, Newark, DE 19713
• School Board Website: Information will be posted soon

Redding Consortium-Full Body Meeting (December 16th):

• Date and Time:Tuesday, December 16, 2025 | 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
• In-Person Meeting Location:Delaware Tech – Orlando George Jr. Campus, West Building (West Conference Center – Second Floor)
• Address:300 N. Orange St. Wilmington, DE 19801
• Zoom Link: https://udel.zoom.us/j/93354751917?jst=2
• Information on the Public Meeting Calendar can be viewed here.