Solutions for Delaware Schools, Volume 1: Redistricting in the City of Wilmington and New Castle County: A Transition, Resource, and Implementation Plan
Date
2016-05
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Abstract
This book is the first volume in the Wilmington Education Improvement
Commission’s series, Solutions for Delaware Schools. It will be followed by reports
that focus on key areas of the Commission’s mandate: meeting the needs
of students in poverty, improving charter and district collaboration, and
strengthening parent, educator, and community engagement in support of
Delaware’s public schools. The Commission also will submit an annual report
to the people of Delaware, the Governor, General Assembly, and State Board
of Education (State Board) that tracks progress against the milestones set out
in this Plan and that also informs our citizens and leaders on actions needed
to address the challenges facing public education throughout our state.
In front of us now—for the first time since Brown v Board (1954)—is the
opportunity to equitably provide funding for low-income students, English
language learners and other students with special needs statewide and to
significantly reduce the variability and fragmentation, which is particularly
acute in the City of Wilmington. There have been many attempts to get this
right in our state’s history and unfortunately, inertia has always won the day.
This time must be different.
On August 4, 2015, Governor Markell signed two pieces of legislation
passed with overwhelming support by the Delaware General Assembly: Senate
Bill (SB) 122 and House Bill (HB) 148. These two pieces of legislation
created the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission and gave it the
opportunity to build an expansive coalition to transform Delaware schools.
The Commission has done exactly that and produced the Plan published in
this book as the first key step for the systematic improvement of Delaware
public education to better serve all students.
The Commission was established with a broad statewide mandate, extending
until June 30, 2021, to advise the Governor and General Assembly on
improving the availability of high-quality public education, meeting the needs
of all Delaware schools with high concentrations of low-income students, English
language learners and other students at risk, and recommending policies
to promote the continuous improvement of public education.
Description
Keywords
WEIC, WEAC, meeting needs, funding, redistricting, charter, collaboration, parent and community engagement, english language learners, low income, poverty, special needs