Christina Board Member Resignation Leads To TWO Board Seat Elections On May 9th

The New Castle Department of Election is accepting nominations for District B in the Christina School District until April 20th.  Anyone who files will be a candidate for the school board election on May 9th.  This will leave Christina with two new board members following the resignation of Meg Mason last week.

I’ve seen in other districts where the board appoints someone until the next FULL school board election season.  This decision by the Dept. of Elections leaves a candidate very little time to prepare for a 19 day campaign.  If no one files, that protocol would take place.  I imagine it is because the resignation came prior to the school board election as the basis for the decision.

District G already has three candidates running for that seat: Jeff Day, Meredith Griffin, and Kimara Smith.  I will be announcing my endorsement for that district in the next few days, along with some other races.

Senate & House Education Committees To Hear Controversial School Voucher & School Board Election Bills This Week!!!! And A Big Vote On Thursday!!!!

After a two-week recess, the Delaware General Assembly returns tomorrow  Both the Delaware Senate and House Education Committee meetings have some controversy coming on Wednesday in the form of two bills.  Both of these bills may draw a crowd, so get there early!  And two very popular bills will finally get a vote this week.

In the House, the Education Committee will meet at 2:30pm to discuss State Rep. Hudson’s school voucher bill.  House Bill 161, introduced a year ago, would take the state funding allocated to a particular student and put it in a “Parent Empowerment Education Savings Account”.  So, as an example, say a student gets $11,000 in state funding from Lake Forest School District.  If the student goes to a private school, those funds would be deposited into the savings account and it would go towards the tuition at the private school (which can also include books, tests, and more).  The bill does specify this would only be used for “exceptional children” as defined by state code.  When this bill first came out, many thought it would not just mean a child with a disability, but also talented and gifted students.  An amendment, added to the bill last June, eliminates that option.  This bill is just for students with disabilities.

The problem with school vouchers is it is more funds disappearing from the local education district.  The referendums are bad enough, but this would just add fuel to the fire.  Many folks who are anti-referendum want school vouchers and they don’t want their local taxes paying for public education.  In my opinion, if a parent makes a choice to send their child to a private school, you should still have to pay school taxes.  Every state has school taxes, and Delaware is no exception.  School vouchers are very popular with Republicans, but the results from other states have been very mixed.

At 3pm, the Senate Education Committee will hear Senate Bill 165.  After the controversial Red Clay referendum last year, Delaware Senator Karen Peterson introduced Senate Bill 165.  This legislation would cut polling places in school board elections and referendums, and all voting would be done through the U.S. mail.  As well, all voters would have to be registered to vote.  To add more heat, all school board elections AND referenda would be on the second Tuesday of May.  For districts that don’t have a referendum pass, they would have to wait another year to have another one.

A lot of folks do not like this bill at all.  Ironically, First State Liberty, the organization in Delaware that makes robo-calls during Christina referenda, is vehemently against this bill.  To be honest, I haven’t talked to anyone who supports this bill.  This one will draw a crowd.  I imagine some folks may want to attend both meetings, so I could see a mad rush to get through the House Education Committee meeting and then folks literally running upstairs to get to the Senate meeting half an hour later.

The Senate meeting will also have a presentation from the Parent Advocacy Council for Education (PACE).  Another bill which will be heard in the House meeting will be State Rep. Kim Williams very awesome House Bill 232.  This bill would allow public comment on any action item, be it a resolution, a charter school action, or anything else the State Board of Education votes on.  Currently, the State Board does not allow public comment at any of their meetings on any action item unless they give explicit permission (as they recently did with the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission redistricting plan).  As well, the House Education Committee will hear Senate Joint Resolution #8, which honors Delaware State University for their 125th Anniversary.

School vouchers, referenda, and school board elections.  While I don’t expect any of these drawing a crowd like House Bill 50 (the opt out legislation) did last year, I already know people who will be there.  The votes from the committee members will be very interesting on these bills.

Two bills released from the Senate Education Committee last June will be given a full Senate vote on Thursday.  Senate Bills 92 and 93, both dealing with Autism (see the Education Legislation tab at the top of the page).  April is also Autism Awareness Month, so it is fitting these bills will get a vote this month.

Delaware Senate Bill 165 Would Make Referendums Once A Year & Change School Board Elections To US Mail Only

Apparently there was a Delaware Senate Bill submitted on July 15th that I didn’t know about.  I found out because the House has a pre-filing day today so I thought I would check the Senate Side.  House Bill 165 would drastically change things with school district referendums.  Instead of a district having more than one referendum in a year, all school districts would have their referendum on the 2nd Tuesday of May.  This is also the same day when school board elections take place.  As for those school board elections, instead of having them at schools, they would take place through the US Mail system.  This bill is sponsored by Senator Karen Peterson and State Reps Michael Ramone and Deborah Hudson.  Co-sponsors are Senators Brian Bushweller and Margaret Rose-Henry and State Rep. Stephanie Bolden.  I assume a lot of this is in reaction to the Red Clay referendum last winter which is also part of a lawsuit.  To read the legislation, please see below:

The Complete 2015 Delaware School Board Candidate List

If it’s March in Delaware, it must be school board filing season.  The hottest race appears to be Appoquinimink with eight candidates filing for one seat.  Indian River looks to have a lot of activity.  I predict Capital will be a very big election, as well as Red Clay.  Christina gets another George Evans term, marking the 5 billionth year he has served on the board.  There is only one election where nobody filed.  If a name is in italics, that means they can save their money and not worry about putting up any signs, cause they have it in the bag, unless nobody votes for them.

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

Appoquinimink: “At Large”, expires 2020- Michelle Wall, Tara Greathouse, Debbie Harrington, Ryan Scott, Mark Heck, Joanne Christian, Dainelle Hampton-Morton, William Weller

Brandywine: “District B”-  expires 2020- Arthur Kirksey, Kristen Pidgeon, John Pierson

“District E”-  expires 2020- Karen Gordon, Diana Hornung-Hamsby

Christina: “District A”-  expires 2020- George Evans

Colonial: “District B”- expires 2020- Ronald Pierce, Margaret Lucille Kennedy

“District D”, expires 2020- Nobody Filed

Red Clay Consolidated: “District B”, expires 2020- Caleb Brokaw (withdrew), Martin Wilson Sr., Alfred Lance Jr.

“District D”, expires 2020- Catherine Thompson

KENT COUNTY

Caesar Rodney: “At Large”, expires 2020- William Bush III, Kevin Birney

Capital: “At Large”, expires 2020- Sharese Paylor, Ralph Taylor, Peter Servon

Lake Forest: “At Large”, expires 2016- Earle Dempsey, Elizabeth Brode

“At Large”, expires 2018- Austin Auen, Andrea Miller

“At Large”, expires 2020- James Rau

Milford: “At Large”, expires 2020- Kent DelRossi, Ronald Evans Jr., K. Yvette Dennehy

Smyrna: “At Large”, expires 2020- Christine Malec

SUSSEX COUNTY

Cape Henlopen: “At Large”, expires 2020- Roni Posner, Carl Smink, Jose Saez

“Area B”, expires 2020-  Jason Bradley, Gary Wray

Delmar: “At Large”, expires 2020- Becky Neubert, Raymond Vincent Jr.

Indian River: “District 1”, expires 2020- James Hudson, Miguel Pirez-Fabar, James Fritz

“District 2”, expires 2020- Shaun Fink

“District 4”, expires 2020- Judith Teoli, Mary Langan, Gregory Goldman, Charles Bireley, Lloyd Elling

Laurel: “At Large”, expires 2020- Brent Nichols, Kimberly Trivits, John Bowden

Seaford: “At Large”, expires 2020- Jeffrey Benson

Woodbridge: “At Large”, expires 2020- Walter Gilefski, Bernard Carr