No Fair Deal with Delaware’s Antique Funding System

In 1949 President Truman presented his famous “Fair Deal” speech, presenting the idea that that every American should get a “fair deal” from their government. Following that speech, Congress nearly doubled the national minimum wage and created 800,000 new houses for the poor.

Also in 1949, the State of Delaware created its educational unit count funding system. This system, with few changes, has been in place ever since, and it’s time for state policymakers to update our antiquated education funding system, much as minimum wage and affordable housing policies have been updated over time.

Student needs have evolved and continue to evolve, but the system for providing resources is stuck in the past.

As a teacher, I witness every day how the needs of our students and instructional best practices continuously evolve. For example, this year I’m piloting Schoology, the state’s online learning management system, in my classroom. This means that for the first time, my students really can have access to our course materials anytime, anywhere—as long as they have access to a device and an internet connection. But what if they want to take a course offered in another district, state, or country using the platform? Since the current state funding system allocates resources largely at the level of adults, not students, the system actually is a barrier to my students having these kinds of opportunities. A funding system designed in 1949 simply could not have foreseen the opportunities my students could and should have access to today. Today’s world moves faster than ever, and our classrooms need to keep pace. Schools and teachers need the flexibility to provide for the needs of the students they serve, in real time. But our state system for providing education funding through staffing “units” is stuck in the past—it isn’t student-based and limits how resources can be spent locally.

Delaware needs to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its spending to make the most of every dollar.

Too often, I see the flaws in the state’s current funding system passed on to my district, with unhelpful consequences for my students. For example, I’ve taught in an academically intensive setting with students with a range of challenging needs. I remember when a student with significant physical disabilities joined my class after the official September 30 count. Currently, the amount of state funding that a district receives is based on the students present in school on September 30. Since this student joined my class after the September 30 count, my district had to figure out a way to accommodate his needs, including hiring an additional staff member, without having the appropriate resources from the state to do so. We did what we had to do to serve the student’s needs, but I worry that this could have been at the expense of other priorities. Ultimately, changing Delaware’s funding system is not just a question of whether to make additional investments, it’s also a question of how and when we allocate our existing resources.

Tweaks and patches aren’t the answer

As we debate and talk with neighbors and colleagues about this issue, let’s make sure that the starting point of the conversation is: What is best for our students? The focus of any changes in state education funding should be on providing our students with the opportunities they deserve. This cannot happen without an updated, efficient, and equitable education funding system. There is work to be done and the stakes could not be higher.

In order to accomplish these things, simply tweaking or patching the current system won’t work. We need a complete transformation to a modern system that allocates dollars more than once a year based on students’ needs rather than staffing “units.” We can learn from the majority of other states that have made the transition to a student-based system and consider creative ideas such as weighted student funding or pro-rating the daily cost of educating students.

In addition, districts and schools should have increased autonomy in deciding how to spend state resources because they are most knowledgeable about the needs of their students. If local districts have increased financial decision-making, they can better tailor programs and resources to serve the individual needs of students and ensure resources are allocated flexibly based on his or her needs.

It’s 2016, and when it comes to education funding, Delaware’s students still aren’t getting a fair deal.

Jordan Dutton is an eighth grade English Language Arts teacher at W.T. Chipman Middle School in Harrington, Delaware. He is also a member of the Rodel Teacher Council.