Christina Tables MOU Again But Does Pass Their Final FY2018 Budget

Last evening, the Christina School District Board of Education held their second board meeting of the month.  There were only two items on the agenda: a recommendation to approve the Memorandum of Understanding between the district and Governor Carney’s office and approval of their final Fiscal Year 2018 budget.

The board punted on the MOU vote again, choosing to table a vote until their February 6th board meeting.  All five board members in attendance voted yes on tabling the vote.  They were George Evans, Fred Polaski, Meredith Griffin, Harrie Ellen Minnehan, and John Young.  Board members Elizabeth Paige and Angela Mitchell did not attend the meeting.  The board has voted to table this vote several times now which must assuredly be frustrating Carney’s office.  When it came time to vote on their final budget for this fiscal year, all board members in attendance voted yes with the exception of Young.  The board voted on the same recommendation last week, but that failed with a 3-2 vote.

Governor John Carney’s office mentioned the proposed MOU in Carney’s proposed Annual Appropriations bill yesterday.  They have 15 million in capital funds earmarked for the district and 1.5 million in opportunity grants.  The capital funds would be used for construction costs for some of their Wilmington schools as the MOU calls for consolidation of Christina’s Wilmington schools from five to two.  Carney also mentioned Christina in his State of the State address last week.

The next day I posted a bold prediction for Christina.  I received no response from Carney’s office or Christina School District about those predictions.  I heard this information from various sources in Delaware.  The odd part is NO ONE has been talking about it aside from some messages I received from some curious and very worried district teachers.  I was not able to reveal my sources to those individuals.

As the district in Delaware that sends the most in local payments to Delaware charter schools, they face a potential financial hit with Carney recommending another 2% goes to charters in FY2019 due to “inflation”.

 

 

 

A Strong Reminder For Delaware Schools About The Smarter Balanced Assessment And Opt Out

No school in Delaware is allowed to issue threats about a student who is opted out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  That decision is taken out of your hands every single year in the Delaware Appropriations Act.

That means you can’t tell students they can’t go to high school or their next grade, have to go to summer school, retake the test, or any other consequence if they opt out.  I trust our schools will follow the law.  If not, I will call you out every single time, by school, district, charter, or whatever.  Parents, if you want to opt your child out of Smarter Balance, remember the veiled threats have no legal justification.  If they do this, let me know.