Legislative Monitor

This Act provides increased funding for kindergarten through third grade students identified as eligible for basic special education services. Currently, there is no additional unit funding for students in kindergarten through third grade who may be eligible for basic special education services. The Act adds a designation of “K-3 Basic Special Education (basic)” and over three years reduces the number of students comprising a unit from the current 16.2 to 8.4. This Act will increase the unit count funding for K-3 Basic Special Education (basic) students by School Year 2023-2024, Fiscal Year 2024, to be consistent with the 8.4 unit of pupils currently available to students in grades 4 through 12. Decrease in the ratio between the number of students enrolled and the unit count for basic special education from 16.2 currently to 12.2 in Fiscal Year 2022, 10.2 in Fiscal Year 2023, and 8.4 in Fiscal Year 2024. Section 4 of this Act delays the effect of each Section until the start of each new fiscal year in the 3-year cycle over which this Act’s changes are intended to occur.

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This act makes permanent a 3 year pilot program (“program”) to implement the recommendations in the 2015 Autism Educational Task Force report. The pilot program revised the Delaware Autism Program toward a system where the statewide Director works in collaboration with a team of experts to provide technical assistance and training to districts and educational entities

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This Act fully exempts county property taxes and local school taxes for a disabled veteran with a 100% VA rated service-connected, permanent and total disability or for a disabled veteran who is receiving 100% disability compensation due to individual unemployability.

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This Act makes changes to House Bill 202 from the 150th General Assembly creating a pilot program for the Red Clay School District to use external camera systems on their school buses to catch motorists that fail to stop when a school bus is stopped and displaying flashing lamps to take on or discharge school children and assess a civil penalty as punishment. The changes in this bill are necessary to make clear that the Act, which mirrors 21 Del. C. § 4101(d), the State’s Electronic Red Light Safety Program, only creates a civil, not a criminal penalty.

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This Act permits the extension of special education and related services to those students with a disability who turn 21 during the 2020-2021 school year to address unfinished learning as a result of the pandemic which resulted in the COVID-19 Declaration of a State of Emergency for the State of Delaware Due to a Public Health Threat declared by the Governor on March 12, 2020. The IEP for the child must be revised to reflect the specific basis for extending services and the specific education and related services that will be provided.

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This Act requires high needs elementary schools, including high needs elementary charter schools, to have school-based health centers. The State will pay the start-up costs for each school-based health center at 2 high needs elementary schools per year until each high needs elementary school has a center. High needs elementary schools are defined as any elementary school in the top quartile of 3 or more in percentage of low-income students, percentage of English learners, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of minority students, or having 90% of its students classified as low-income, English learners, or minority.

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This Act changes the current evaluation system for all teachers from the former Delaware Performance Appraisal System II evaluation to a new Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System. The goal of this new evaluation system is to build a culture of professionalism and learning within every school by converting the evaluation system from a teacher-focused to a learning-focused system. It also increases accountability by requiring a beginning, middle and end of the year review of both the teacher’s professional learning goals and student improvement goals.

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This Act will result in increased funding for preschool children with disabilities who are not in either Intensive or Complex special education units by revising the current ratio of 12.8 students per unit to 8.4 students per unit consistent with the ratio of students per unit in Basic Special Education for students enrolled in grades 4-12. The reduction of students per unit will be phased in over three years; in the first year, the number of students per unit will be 11.3, in the second year, the number of students per unit will be 9.8, and in the third year the number of students per unit will be 8.4. This Act also makes changes to existing law to make it consistent with the Legislative Drafting Manual.

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The Delaware Code does not currently contain any explicit direction for public schools relating to school absences for observance of religious holidays. This Act requires schools to excuse a pupil’s absence for observance of a religious holiday, and further requires districts and charters to have a policy discouraging teachers from scheduling tests, presentations and the like on days where some students may be absent for a religious holiday. A pupil who does miss a grading event must be allowed to make-up the test or otherwise recover credit. The Department of Education is directed to promulgate rules and regulations relating to implementation of this Act, including a list of holidays on which an absence for religious observance must be excused

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This Act establishes the Elevate Delaware Program. Elevate Delaware will provide tuition, up to $10,000, to Delaware residents who have obtained a high school diploma, Diploma of Alternate Achievement Standards, or a Delaware secondary credential, which includes earning a GED, and have enrolled in an approved non-degree credit certificate program. The Workforce Development Board will create a list of non-degree credit certificate programs approved for the Elevate Delaware program. This Act also allows the Department of Labor to provide participants in the Elevate Delaware Program payments to cover basic living expenses while attending the training program and for a 90-day job search period after completion of the training program.

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This Act allows the parent or guardian of a military-connected student to preliminarily enroll the student by remote registration in a school district where the parent or guardian is in the active military of the United States or in full-time status during active service with a force of the Delaware National Guard, if the parent or guardian is being transferred to Delaware under military orders and is transferred to or is pending transfer to a military installation within Delaware.

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This Act allows one excused absence per school year for students grades 6 through 12 to attend civic engagements such as visits to the United States Capitol, Legislative Hall, and sites of political and cultural significance, or participation in a rally, march, protest, or walkout. For a student to attend a civic engagement event, the student’s parent or guardian must provide written permission no later than 3 school days prior to the student’s planned absence. The school shall determine what is acceptable as written permission. If the principal or another school or school district official does not confirm receipt of written permission with the parent or guardian prior to the student’s planned absence, permission for the student to attend the civic engagement event as an excused absence is presumed.

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Year-long teacher residency programs are a partnership between an educator preparation program and a Delaware school district or charter school to provide a year-long immersive experience for teacher candidates, allowing them a full and supported, on the ground experience of teaching in a Delaware school. The teacher resident also receives a stipend while participating in the program, which may be used to defray education and living expenses. These programs are the gold standard for teacher preparation and they assist in attracting and retaining quality, diverse educators. For the last several years, the General Assembly has appropriated funds in the annual budget to support and sustain these programs. This bill codifies the program and establishes guidelines for how and when the funds will be awarded and what they may be used for. The Department of Education continues to be charged with administration of the funds.

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The Act places the Parents Right to Know Act in the Department of Education instead of the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families. This Act also clarifies the notice requirements.

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This Act requires each school district and charter school to establish and implement a curriculum on Black History for students in grades K through 12. This Act incorporates contemporary events into discussions of Black History and the tools of experience.

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This bill requires all public and charter schools which have students in grades 6-12 to provide free feminine hygiene products in 50% of the bathrooms used by students who can have a menstrual cycle. This bill also requires schools to publish on its website and post in its common areas the locations of the bathrooms where the hygiene products are provided. Finally, this bill provides that each school must consult with its school nurse regarding the products to be provided.

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This Act is designed to increase the opportunity for Delaware children to undergo developmental screening with a research-based screening tool at an early age in order to identify children who may be eligible for Early Intervention or special education services.

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This Act does the following: (1) Removes the requirement that applicants for initial and continuing educator licenses obtain a passing score on an approved performance assessment. (2) In place of the performance assessment requirement, requires professional development and mentoring activities include a focus on acquisition of pedagogical knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to meet student needs and requires the Department of Education (Department) to establish a committee of stakeholders to gather input and make recommendations on how to achieve professional development and mentoring activities that satisfy the requirements.

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This Act establishes a Behavioral Health Professional of the year award program throughout the State. Through this legislation, the state will formally honor and recognize the work behavioral health professionals, such as, school counselors, social workers, licensed clinical social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses.

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This act will allow a critical need reimbursement to be distributed directly to an institute of higher education or Secretary of Education approved Alternative Routes to Teacher Licensure and Certification program for an eligible teacher who is taking noncredit-earning seminars or workshops or credit-bearing coursework in order to attain a Standard Certification in a state-approved critical need area.

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This Act requires high needs elementary schools, including high needs elementary charter schools, to have school-based health centers. The State will pay the start-up costs for each school-based health center at 2 centers per year until each high needs elementary school has a center. High needs elementary schools are defined as any elementary school in the top quartile of 3 or more in percentage of low-income students, percentage of English learners, percentage of students with disabilities, percentage of minority students, or having 90% of its students classified as low-income, English learners, or minority. This act also allows high needs elementary schools having pre-existing school-based health centers to apply for reimbursement of previously expended funds necessary to establish said health center.

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This Act moves the date by which the Department of Education shall submit its annual report to the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council from August 1 to October 15 of each year. Moving the date to October 15 will better accommodate the data collection, quality control, and certification process utilized by the Department of Education. Schools and districts are required to enter their data by July 1 and the process of verifying the information and making any corrections necessary to certify the data is usually finished by October 1.

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This Act preserves the requirement that students have the opportunity to salute and pledge allegiance to the American flag each school day but revises the Code so that the requirement complies with the First Amendment of the Constitution. Specifically, this Act does all of the following: Section 1 revises § 4105 of Title 14 to comply with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by requiring schools to provide an opportunity for students to salute the flag and pledge allegiance to the American flag every day. Section 2 adds charter schools to § 4101A of Title 14 to be consistent with the revisions in Section 1 of this Act and makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Section 3 repeals the penalties imposed on a principal or teacher for failure to comply with § 4105 of Title 14. Section 4 repeals the penalties imposed on a principal or teacher for failure to comply with § 4101 of Title 14.

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Top line: This bill allows for more district provided transportation K-8, clarifies how to qualify for district provided transportation (specifically not applied to charter schools or choice).**** – Amends the section header for § 2905, Title 14 to more accurately reflect the section’s subject matter. – Clarifies the Department of Education’s authority to promulgate rules and regulations regarding the transportation of students who are in public elementary and secondary schools. Section 2905 already expressly grants promulgation authority to the Department regarding nonpublic, nonprofit schools. – Clarifies that the new provision of transportation benefits for students in grades K through 8 applies only to students who attend the public school in which their enrollment is based on the residences of their parents; it does not apply to students who attend charter schools or, by choice, schools in different districts. – Makes several technical changes to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including changes to consistently refer to “students” instead of using both “students” and “pupils” within the same section.

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In the 149th General Assembly House Bill No. 64 amended Title 29, Section 5120 to insure that mothers who are full time state employees may have up to 6 weeks of unpaid leave following the newborn(s) discharge from the hospital even if their FMLA benefits have been exhausted. This bill clarifies that school district employees are entitled to the same unpaid leave.

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In January 2020, the Code Revisors provided the General Assembly with a list of potential technical corrections that they identified as they revised the Delaware Code to reflect legislation that was enacted by the 150th General Assembly in 2019 or as they reviewed titles of the Code. While technical in nature, these changes are beyond the authority of the Code Revisors to make and can only be done by the General Assembly through legislation. 7 of the changes are Title 14 corrections.

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This Act reduces the term of a member elected to a school board from 5 years to 4 years for members elected after December 31, 2021. This Act also makes technical corrections for clarity and to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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This Act, the Healthy Delaware Families Act, creates a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. Delaware employees can access up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave through the State’s paid leave trust fund for a qualifying event, including for the following: (1) To address a worker’s own serious health condition (2) To care for a family member with a serious health condition. (3) To bond with a new child. (4) To handle safety matters for victims of domestic violence. (5) To address the impact of a family member’s military deployment.

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This Act makes students who attend homeschools eligible for the same services for children with disabilities as students who attend private schools in a manner that allows federal funds to pay for the services. This Act is the result of discussions regarding Senate Bill No. 19, which would make homeschool students eligible for speech therapy services, and accomplishes the goal of Senate Bill No. 19 because through meaningful consultation, speech therapy services are often included in the services provided to students who attend private schools.

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This bill allows schools and school districts to submit an application to the Department of Education to have a school designated as a Purple Star School.

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The purpose of this act is to open up The Delaware Student Excellence Equals Degree Act (SEED Act) to adult Delaware residents, who are not recent high school graduates. Currently, about 56% of Delawareans age 25-64 lack a post-secondary degree. This expansion of the SEED grant program will encourage adult learners to return to school to enhance their knowledge and skills and increase their job opportunities. Adult individuals with a high school diploma or less education were significantly impacted by Covid-19-related job loss. This legislation can help to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on those adults. Tennessee has instituted a similar program called the Tennessee Reconnect Act.”

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This bill provides that the spouse and any child of a member of the active military service of the United States, who has been assigned to duty elsewhere immediately following assignment to duty in Delaware, shall be deemed to be an in-state resident for the purposes of determining the tuition, fees, and other charges at Delaware public universities, colleges, or community colleges as long as the spouse or child remains enrolled at such institution.

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This Act is the result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee’s review of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (“DIAA”) and addresses out-of-season coaching for student athletes. The purpose of this Act is to codify the General Assembly’s recognition that Delaware athletes are at a disadvantage when competing against youth from other states because Delaware coaches cannot coach their students out of season. Under this Act, out-of-season coaching does not violate the Code of Conduct if the coach and the organization providing the sport meet certain criteria that provide restrictions to minimize the risk of unethical activity.

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The 2019 Delaware Literacy Plan (“Literacy Plan”) established a framework to address Delaware’s literacy challenges. The Literacy Plan concluded that a strong teacher preparation program should lay the foundation for teachers to be able to engage students in the essential components of evidenced-based reading instruction, known as the “science of reading.” This Act incorporates the science of reading into Delaware’s public and charter schools by requiring, beginning July 1, 2023, that teacher preparation programs which prepare elementary school, early childhood education, or special education teachers or reading specialists must provide instruction in evidence-based reading instruction. It requires the Department of Education to establish a minimum number of hours of training that instructors in educator preparation programs must complete in evidence-based reading instruction. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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This Act transfers responsibility for early intervention services for children ages birth to age 3 from the Department of Health and Social Services to the Department of Education and revises the Code to be consistent with federal law. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to provide a comprehensive, coordinated, interagency, interdisciplinary early intervention services system for eligible infants and toddlers and their families. This Act requires that early intervention services be provided in compliance with all of the requirements of the IDEA

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This bill provides for gradual increases in the Delaware minimum wage to $15 over a period of several years.

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This Act makes children with disabilities who attend homeschools eligible to receive speech language pathology and audiology services in the same manner as students who attend private schools. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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This Act requires the University of Delaware, Delaware State University and Delaware Technical Community College to livestream their board meetings (exempting executive board meetings) and maintain those recordings for public consumption.

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DE law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in a variety of settings. This Act makes clear that race also includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle, which includes braids, locks, and twists – includes this language in 3 sections of title 14

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This Act suspends the educator evaluation system during the 2020-2021 school year and replaces it with an observation and feedback cycle that provides educators with coaching and support related to hybrid and remote learning practices. This Act also provides that formal improvement plans in place for the 2020-2021 school year remain in effect through the next evaluation cycle under this section.

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This Act revises Chapter 26 of Title 14, regarding the Sussex Vo-Tech High School by doing all of the following: 1. Revises the tax rate for the District and clarifies the acceptable use for the tax revenue. 2. Repeals § 2602(b) of Title 14 3. Revises the number of students who may be enrolled in the District. 4. It creates a preference for student admissions for children of members of the District’s BOE. 5. Revises academic eligibility by requiring that accepted students remain academically eligible for promotion under the standards established by DDOE.

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This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee’s (“JLOSC”) 2019 review of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education (“DACCTE”), and adds a requirement to DACCTE’s annual report to provide students and families access to information regarding educational, employment, and training opportunities.

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This bill will provide Delaware students with strong academic credentials and a demonstrated commitment to volunteer public service to receive scholarship monies sufficient to cover the full cost of tuition at Delaware State University. The intent of this bill is to increase the number of students in Delaware who not only attend the University but who successfully complete degree programs.

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This Act makes minority educators eligible for the High Needs Educator Student Loan Repayment Program. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

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DE law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in a variety of settings. This Act makes clear that race also includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and a protective hairstyle, which includes braids, locks, and twists – includes this language in 3 sections of title 14

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This act requires red flag indicator training for teachers, school principals, counselors, school nurses, and other school district or charter school employees who interact with students, the people most likely to exhibit red flag indicators during the school day. This act requires that each school district and charter school establish and implement red flag indicator reporting, tracking, and referral policies. These policies will allow for the timely referral of at-risk students for needed mental health evaluation or treatment or law enforcement action. To protect teachers, administrators, and other school district or charter school employees, this Act provides immunity from criminal liability, civil liability, or professional discipline for employees who follow school district or charter school red flag indicator policies to report a student’s red flag behavior.

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Senate Bill No. 52 revises Chapter 26 of Title 14, regarding the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District (“District”). Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 52 differs from Senate Bill No. 52 because it does not change the preferences for student admissions or the eligibility standards for accepted students. Like Senate Bill No. 52, Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 52 does all of the other proposed changes.

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This bill enhances the qualifications for an individual to serve as a member of a school board or the State Board of Education. Specifically, this Act does all of the following: 1. Requires a prospective member of a school district board or State Board of Education to undergo the background check for child-serving entities and provides authority for the State Bureau of Identification to provide the required background check information to the appropriate entities. 2. Provides that background check information provided under this Act is not a public record under the Delaware Freedom of Information Act. 3. Requires that the Commissioner of Elections determine that an individual does not have any disqualifying convictions before the individual can be a candidate for election to a school board. 4. Requires the suspension of a member of a school board or the State Board of Education if the member is charged with a crime that would disqualify the individual from holding the position if convicted. 5. Requires the suspension of a charter school board member who is charged with a disqualifying offense. Existing law requires potential charter school board members to undergo and pass a criminal background check to serve as a charter school board member. 6. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. The disqualifying convictions under Senate Bill No. 78 are similar to those that cause an educator to lose their license or certificate and the additional qualifications do not apply to current school board members until the expiration of the member’s current term, unless the member is charged with a disqualifying crime while serving.

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