‘Better outcomes’: Commission updates Delaware lawmakers on revamped school funding formula that targets more money to high-needs students

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High-needs students in Delaware could see a massive infusion of financial support under a new school funding formula proposed by a state legislative task force.

The state House and Senate Education committees gave an update Wednesday on the Public Education Funding Commission’s overhaul of the current unit-based formula, which dates back to the 1940s.

The task force is developing a hybrid model that preserves the foundation of the original formula, but simplifies distribution and gives districts more flexibility in how the money is used. It would also include more weighted funding for low-income and multilingual learners.

Commission Chairperson state Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Brandywine Hundred, said students in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other eastern seaboard states are performing better than Delaware students.

“Those states that spend more per pupil and target more funds towards low income and multilingual learners have better outcomes, have better test scores, have better outcomes in terms of graduation rates, long-term outcomes, employment and higher education,” she said.

Proposal gives higher-needs students more funding

For the fiscal year 2026 budget, Delaware spent about $2.3 billion on education funding. Presenters during the hearing discussed the state adding $200 million to $400 million under the commission’s revamped formula.

Sturgeon said in a text message after the hearing that the state could invest any amount they chose, from tens of millions to hundreds of millions.

In the current unit-based system, student characteristics dictate how units are generated, but those are limited to grade level and special education needs. Opportunity funding — about $66 million in fiscal year 2026 — goes to low-income and multilingual learners. Former Gov. John Carney launched “opportunity grants” in 2017.

Delaware officials were sued by education and civil rights advocates in 2018, alleging they were persistently underfunding disadvantaged public school students. The parties settled in 2020, making opportunity funding permanent.

A 2023 report by the American Institutes for Research, as a result of the lawsuit, found that Delaware underfunded its neediest students by $600 million to $1 billion.

Nick Johnson, director of operations for the Polytech School District, said that investing $400 million could mean multilingual learners who currently receive just under $1,000 in additional funding would receive nearly $4,000 per pupil instead. Funding for each additional low-income student would increase from under $1,000 to about $5,000.

“Opportunity funding really exists in a very similar manner in which it does now, just at a significantly increased valuation that would really put us amongst the top in the country,” he said. “This is targeted funding for each of those areas of students within each school building to best serve those students.”

Students may be eligible for multiple layers of additional financial support, for instance if they are both low-income and an English learner or are also in special education.

Task force overhauls formula to simplify and add flexibility

The hybrid the commission is developing would have three buckets of funding: base, opportunity and operation. According to the Delaware Department of Education, the state contributes about 60% of all school funding to districts and charters.

• Base funding: Would remain unit-based for determining staffing levels and weighted based on student grade level and special education status
• Opportunity funding is weighted toward low-income students and multilingual learners and could be expanded in the future to include other at-risk groups.
• Operational funding: Money allocated per pupil that districts and charters can use to run schools

“Those three tiers — that is narrowed down from 32 individual streams of funding that we used to have,” Sturgeon said. “When we say that this system is going to be more transparent and simplified, that’s what we’re talking about.”

Learning Policy Institute senior researcher Mike Griffith, a consultant helping guide the commission through the decision-making process, said concentrating funding for at-risk students, like those who are homeless, could be a goal once the preliminary formula is implemented. Another goal could be tiered funding for multilingual learners.

“Students at the beginning, when they come into schools, need more support, need more additional funding,” he said. “Then, as they move forward, they need less. But in the beginning, they need these extra supports to help them, not just in the classroom, but very often these students have a lot of other issues existing outside of the classroom.”

Commission member state Sen. Eric Buckson, R-Dover, said he’s not convinced new funding is needed at this point.

“We can make the change and implement the changes,” Buckson said. “We can decide then if we want to add more money. If it needs more money, whatever, we can do that.”

Sturgeon said the group hopes to give the General Assembly a legislative proposal by April, so lawmakers could consider it before the session ends June 30.

Department of Education gives literacy update

Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten also gave lawmakers an update on efforts to improve student literacy rates. She said her agency has launched a statewide effort, and that there’s been more than $10 million invested directly in classrooms.

Marten said DOE has piloted an implementation dashboard that gives districts, schools and education officials actionable data on whether the conditions for strong literacy instruction are in place. Gov. Matt Meyer declared a “literacy emergency” last year after eighth-grade reading scores hit a 27-year low.