Teri Quinn Gray, Ph.D., President	Gregory Coverdale
Jorge L. Melendez, Vice President	Terry M. Whittaker, Ed.D.
G. Patrick Heffernan	James L. Wilson, Ed.D.
Barbara B. Rutt

Sounds like a bad dream, right?  It's not. 

Many of you know that I while I am a passionate advocate for education, there are few causes that fuel my fury more than the right of special education students to receive diplomas upon the completion of their high school career.  The problem is that in Delaware, we are systemically denying special education students that right every year.

Thursday night, following a Town Hall meeting in New Castle, I was able to discuss my concerns with Lt. Gov. Matt Denn.  Albeit brief, it was a conversation that gives me hope because I know that our Lt. Gov. shares my passion for special needs children.

I can't tell you when Delaware started denying some special education students diplomas, but I do remember the rumble of the differentiated diploma, under the administration of then-Governor Thomas Carper, in the early part of this decade.  In the May 3, 2000 publication of Education Week, Carper touted Delaware as an early education reformer: by legislating that "the state would become one of the first to link educators' job-performance evaluations to their students' test scores."

According to the same article by Joetta L. Sack, that piece of legislation set up "a new diploma system for students. To receive an "academic" diploma, students would have to pass the 10th grade assessments in math and language arts. Those who met all the course requirements but did not pass the exam would receive a "standard" diploma, while special education students who were unable to meet those requirements could receive a certificate of performance."

In the intervening years we know that despite Carper's legislation, Delaware failed to tie teacher performance to student test scores; yet, differentiated diplomas took root, sealing the fate of the many special education students who take the DAPA as second class citizens.  In one fell swoop, Carper and our legislature damaged and devalued the disability community and damned a generation of children to an additional challenge - finding employment or pursuing additional education.

I wasn't on the education scene back in 2000.  I was a newlywed and student, finishing up a degree in Journalism at the University of Delaware and working toward becoming a certified activity director.  I had no idea of the direction that my life would take, that in September 2001 I would become a parent and in three years time learn that my daughter had special challenges; or  that I would embark on journey of advocacy that would me in 2009 to run and win a seat on the CSD Board of Education. 

During the course of this week, I intend to educate my audience as to the reality of differentiated diplomas within the scope of special education, and to lead readers to the only logical conclusion:  Delaware must reverse itself in regards to the Certificate of Performance because regardless of the track you take, education is not a game, a play, or a Performance.  At the end of this journey, young adults are better served by a diploma than bouquet of roses!

--------------------------
29.0 High School Graduation

29.1 Students with disabilities who are unable to meet the requirements for a diploma shall be given the option to complete those requirements by continuing their education, at public agency expense, until their 21st birthday. Regardless of the document received at graduation by the student, whether a diploma or a certificate of performance, the student shall not be discriminated against during the graduation ceremonies.
Specifically, a student with disabilities shall be allowed to participate in graduation exercises without reference to his or her disability, educational placement or the type of document conferred.

(Authority: 14 Del.C. §3110)
10 DE Reg. 1816 (06/01/07)

DE. Sec. of Education, Lillian Lowery, has accepted the position of Sec. of Education for the State of Maryland.  www.delawareonline.com for details as they become available.

Christiana High School "Lights It Up Blue" for Autism

CSD board member, John Young, on the STATUS QUO of Ed reform in today's NJ:

I cannot help but wonder lately: Why is education such a politically charged topic in our state?

I also wonder how Delaware's Race to the Top reforms are really affecting our children where needed most, in our classrooms.

As a school board member, I am elected to govern a district on a seven person board focused on one goal: student achievement. For as simple as the one goal is, the pathway to that goal is convoluted, politically savage at times, and full of mines.

Budgets, segregation, discipline, regulations, fiscal rules, property taxes, charter laws, and student testing are all examples of the sometimes competing interests in our public schools system.

Then, we deal with what seems to be the bigger problems like cake knives, camping tools and pink hair, often exaggerated by the media. Yes, that's sarcasm dripping through. We get distracted from our singular goal when things like these happen and they add no value to our students' education or lives.

So when I had the opportunity to walk Glasgow High School with our governor a few weeks ago and later when I got to listen to the platitudes-laden sound bites from our U.S. Secretary of Education from his visit on March 23, it clicked for me.

Nobody in Delaware really knows what they are doing.  Continued HERE

Although unwavering in their support for the expansion, Newark Charter parents said they can grasp the dilemma the district faces.

“I understand that they need more kids to make the schools better, but you’re not going to get more kids until you make the schools better,” Patti Carlson said. “But why should our kids be the guinea pigs?” - News Journal, 4/1/12

Lawmakers, along with the political and corporate elite, often brag about the "Delaware Way" of solving problems in a nonpartisan, collaborative fashion. That same Delaware Way, however, also tends to maintain the status quo because power is concentrated in the hands of a core group of politicians who sometimes stay in office for decades and business executives in banking, development and other major industries.  -- http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120319/NEWS02/203190315/Study-ranks-Del-government-22nd-transparency?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

I was about to delete Eduwonk from my blogroll the other day, when I clicked through to the following piece by Eduwonk's author.  Guess that blog might stay on the roll a while longer...

Teacher Sex Abuse: Why Repeat Offenders Are So Common

Parents don’t want to further traumatize young victims, but handling things "discreetly" merely displaces the problem to another school or community

Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/01/sex-abuse-in-schools-why-public-disclosure-is-crucial/#ixzz1pOrP0gWC

If you missed the twitter action, then you need to know - The NCS expansion went absolutely nowhere today.  No win can be declared for either side.  The Sec. of Ed. offered no recommendation and the state board of education voted to table until their April meeting. 

In the last couple of hours, parties on every side have been trying to piece together the message this lack of action means - from debating whether the state is violating their own charter approval process with regard to exceeding the 90 day provision in the law to whether or not the Sec. should have considered the ACLU letter that was submitted after the close of public comment on the application. 

It's the waiting game, again. At least for the public at large, as the News Journal is reporting that NCS School Leader, Greg Meece has said that the Sec. contacted him this morning and advised him that NCS parents could stand down, there would be no vote today.  Real bummer for the general public/constituents who spent three hours in Dover waiting for this vote!

It's a major system failure for Transparency and State Government.

FOR NEWARK CHARTER EXPANSION VOTE. 

Follow the state board meeting on Twitter #NCSAPP

Latest from DEed blog:

http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/welcome-to-the-opt-out-of-standardized-tests-site-netde/

Okay, you'd think that the mega minds behind the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium might have had a creative bone in one of those wall street bodies... 


Guess Not!  Thus I am left to assume (yes, I know what assuming does) that the new assessment will do nothing more than determine that our children's knowledge exceeds that of butter!  God help us all if the testing craze churns their minds to butter!  Goodbye critical thinking skills, hello butter brained zombies.  Instead of teaching to a test, we are now evidently teaching to a taste.

Hey, at least it's oil-based product - maybe our kids will be worth more per gallon!

Markell's edu-spending cuts have been wreaking havoc in Laurel all year.  The state has finally intervened to help ward off a budget deficit before the end of this fiscal year.  Is it enough?  It is in time?  And will our state legislature finally acknowledge the chaos the Markell Administration has caused in public education?

From the News Journal today:

A special team of financial advisers selected by state officials has been dispatched to the Laurel School District to help ward off a projected spending gap that threatens to spill red ink on the district's budget by the end of this school year.

Click the graph above for the full story.

Note - the State blames Laurel's school board and the turnover in management via interim super and business office.  The district and local legislators blame the edufunding cuts as operational costs outpace the rural tax base.  And Ann Visalli is asking Sen. Venables to not introduce bailout legislation like that passed to help Christina years back until the recovery team has a handle on the problem.  Venables is waiting on the school board for the go ahead.  And in all this mess, let's not forget that CSD was billed for all the hours that the Finance Recover Team fromn Dover spent on forensic accounting. Likely, Laurel's tax payers will have to cough that up, too.

The Gov's mess!

Candidates

I can only hope that the following story gets picked-up by the AP and spun out every news sources in the United States.  (It won't, I know, wishful thinking.)

Clearly the students lacked the critical thinking skills necessary to navigate their way through Delaware.  They also made several poor judgments.  I'm certainly glad these six are safe and were rescued quickly. 

But, this event shines the light on a very dark place - the obsession with assessments that has decreased the overall quality and quantity of classroom instruction - that has forced our many educators into a cave!  Watch out for the stalactites and stalagmites.  I think these kids walked blindly into several!

Decision to play hooky

gets 6 in deeper water

River rescuers called to retrieve stranded students

Dear Christina,

Last night I was unable to attend the showing of The Incovenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman or the pandel that followed.  I would love to hear your recap of the evening.  Thus, I am inviting anyone who attended to leave me a comment with his/her thoughts of the event.

Thank You,

Elizabeth

In Due Process Training in APPO with DOE,

Title 14 Education
Delaware Administrative Code
200 Administration and Operations
211 Notice to School Boards of Due Process Proceedings

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120224/NEWS02/202240329/Black-Caucus-threatens-suit-over-Race-Top-reforms?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome&nclick_check=1
Capital School Board member Raymond Paylor told Street and the other caucus members leading the forum that Delaware's plans for turning around failing schools with high minority populations are fundamentally flawed.
Paylor said schools like Capital's Dover High that have been targeted for Race to the Top reforms, and handed infusions of cash to make changes, needed money to head off decline, not to bring them back from the edge.
"Those schools have three things in common: They have very high numbers of low-income students, special education students and African-American students," he said. "They have to fall into a struggle and be labeled a failing school before they get funding."

Thank You Mr. Paylor for stating what many of us know but few will recognize.

Discussion on teacher visits and it's impact on the start of school year for preschool only.

Looks like a brand new blog focusing on either Colonial or Christina.  The blog does not appear to be totally set-up yet.  But, we'll be keeping an eye on http://keepinganeyeoncsd.wordpress.com/ to see their contribution to the education dialogue.

Welcome to the blogosphere!

No, I'm not retiring the blog.  But, Kilroy is on top of all the action in education that's fit to print.


Life's a wee bit busy here at C&E 1st.  So, the posts are coming fewer and further between.  In the meantime, there's some serious and some seriously funny reading to be done here: http://kilroysdelaware.wordpress.com/


God Bless Kilroy and God Bless the USA!

BREAKING NEWS: Christina SD has a new super

Auditor: Woodbridge district ad OK

Report suggests state improve guidelines to avoid confusing referendum notices

Educational Specialist charged in altercation with student

From WDEL  http://www.wdel.com/story.php?id=40660

Monday, February 6, 2012 - 1:01pm
Firm running Moyer Academy accused of fraud
A private for-profit company hired by state officials to run the troubled Moyer Academy charter school in Wilmington is the target of a lawsuit alleging federal securities fraud.
A lawsuit filed in Virginia alleges that officials with Virginia-based K12 Inc. made false and misleading statements regarding the company's business and financial results in order to inflate K12's stock price.

The complaint was filed last week on behalf of investors who bought K12 stock between 2009 and last year. It alleges among other things that K12 used deceptive student recruiting practices and improper academic assessments to increase its student enrollment and revenues.

A K12 spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone message Monday. A spokeswoman for state education secretary Lillian Lowery say Lowery has not seen the filing and can't comment.

If I still had respect for the Gov (respect is easily lost and much harder to earn) I'd see his proposed education funding as a sign of improved economy and perhaps a sign that he got the message - you can't balance the state's budget on the backs of children.  But, I know better now... And I'll call it what it is (My comments are in red.):

From the News Journal, http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012201270339

DOVER -- Delaware public schools were spared from a steep drop in funding next year in Gov. Jack Markell's proposed 2013 fiscal year budget. Classic Election Year Move to earn support of parents and educators.

Markell proposed $27.4 million in new spending for school operations to make up for the loss of one-time federal stimulus money Congress appropriated to stave off teacher layoffs during the recession. Back it up here! First Markell moved education funds  -eliminating line items like the one that paid reading specialists - into the general fund to support other state expenditures.  Then he backfilled with the federal stimulus monies all the while warning that the funding cliff was coming - coming mind you b/c he was moving edu-funds into general funds and eliminating needed programs...

"The bottom line is, putting in the $27.4 million will absolutely help us with staffing and personnel, which prior to today we were very concerned about," said Delmar Superintendent David Ring, who heads the state's Chief School Officers Association. "It would vary district to district, but we absolutely would have had major layoffs."  In Christina, RIFs have somewhat been mitigated by a year or two due to our tax payers who valued public education and passed an operating referendum two years back.  While you can't just move state and federal funds from one bucket to another, the district is better able to re-appropriate local funds to offset some of the damage inflicted by our Gov.'s past budgets.  It's not ideal or even close, but it helped to stabilize the district at a time when the Gov. was disenfranchising education voters. Absolutely, there are districts that would have been crippled if this funding was not made available now.  And I'll take it, knowing that the Gov. is already planning to hack away at education funds the second he's re-elected. 

The $3.54 billion total budget -- which includes $960.7 million for school district operations -- also appropriates $8.7 million to hire 111 new teachers across the state to account for projected growth in enrollment next school year.  This is a classic move for a politician up for re-election.  Spending money on more teachers is designed to engage union support.  If more teachers are hired, it safe to assume many of them will become a part of the unions that protect their rights resulting in more union dues and probably an endorsement from one of the most powerful unions in the state.  I live unions, but I fear that the Gov's move to buy their support will do just that.  I wonder how quickly our union leadership will forget about DPASS-II Component V and how our teachers evaluation will be tied to a test that measures student achievement and not a teachers proficiency? Will they forget that they have been demonized by the likes of the Gov's Buddy Skip Schoenals and the rest of the business roundtable? 

Markell's proposal also includes $8.8 million to pay contractual step increases for employees in K-12 schools and Delaware Technical Community College. Really? Is this noteworthy?  The key word here is "contractual."  These employees have a contract that ensure they get their step increases.  As the Gov. is not seeking across the board pay cuts as he has done in the past, this is non-news.  It was safe to assume that their wages would be paid as contractually obligated!  I hate feel good lines that are tossed into stories for the sole point of feeling good.  This is not an accomplishment.  This is business as usual.

In response to a study showing 1,000 paraprofessionals are underpaid in Delaware, he proposed giving each classroom aide a $750 raise, adding another $750,000 line-item to the budget.  Okay, the Gov. and I can agree on this one:  a number of education employees including paras are paid at below or just above poverty levels. This is income long deserved.  Sadly, it doesn't touch nearly enough employees and it's not enough, but it's a start.  Maybe the state-induced paycuts (and I predict our Gov will go there if he wins another term) won't hurt these employees quite so much...

Ring said the governor's education funding plan was the best news the state's school districts could have expected. Districts were worried about the loss of $27.4 million in federal stimulus funding, he said. 

Delaware schools received that money in 2011, but were urged by the Markell administration not to spend it until the current fiscal year, which bought the state another year to find the funds.  The A-HA Moment!  So those of us who have the spiteful job of approving education budgets knew this funding existed.  It was approved more than a year ago by the federal government and sent to states to distribute to districts.  In Delaware, the funding was held at the state level with the strong admonition that districts should not try to draw down these funds.  They are one-time funds meant to preserve education jobs.  Most, if not all, districts have not drawn on these funds, waiting until Markell's funding cliff materializes.  This is not special funding that our Gov. has secured for Delawareans.  It was already in the pipeline and many of us have spent the last year praying that the state would not find a way to raid this funding, too. 

"I pushed that problem off for a year and now we have to address it," said Ann Visalli, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Of course it must be addressed.  The funding sunsets - don't spend it and you have to give it back. 

The president of the state teachers union gave the Democratic governor's education budget good marks.  Please, Frederika, don't drink the kool-aid as some who have come before you have (and trust me, I hear from reliable sources, some are regretting it!)  Remember, Jack's buddy, calling you and your kin out as factory floor workers who are holding the ed-system hostage!  That's their true colors shining through!

"It's both financial and emotional support for the folks making it happen in our schools," said Frederika Jenner, president of the Delaware State Education Association.

Jenner said she was particularly pleased with the governor's $3.5 million appropriation for early childhood programs, which will add to $22 million the administration gave to those programs last year.  I wonder how much of the original $22 million came from funds previously dedicated to transportation?  Those funds were hijacked last year by the Gov.  Yes, I agree that we need to invest in early childhood, but programs like Baby Race to the Top are just misguided efforts. 

"I believe that many of our issues that we see in elementary, middle school and high school maybe started before the child entered our school system," Jenner said.  Frederika is a smart woman, she knows that longitudinal data absolutely supports this fact.  Children who do not participate in effective early education such as preschool start kindergarten and first grade with a gap.  I've heard from countless principals who saw this when our district moved from 1/2 day to full-day kindergarten.  Children who were 1/2 day K-students were often behind their full-day K counterparts in first grade.  

Heartbreaking:  The fact the internationally educators in the early childhood field have been fighting for funding for decades.  Though it's a start, Delaware's already late in the game to tackle the education of our youngest as an intervention to proficiency gaps.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <Secretary.Lowery@doe.k12.de.us>
Date: Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Subject: Message from Secretary Lowery
To:


Dear Colleagues,

First, let me thank you for your patience. I know many of you have felt angst surrounding the uncertainty and confusion around how Component 5 (Student Growth) would be measured on your evaluations during this development year. I want to thank the many of you who have shared your concerns with me, the Governor, legislators, district leaders and union representatives. Your voices were heard and appreciated, and we've continued to make changes because of the insights and suggestions you have shared. It is because of your dedication and assistance that with the agreement of DSEA leadership, we have reached a final policy for this year, one we can all point to as fair and focused. I will outline it further below.

I also want to thank the more than 400 teachers from across the state who have been joining us in Dover over the past few months to develop multiple measures across content areas and grades. You know the best ways to assess your students when they enter your classrooms and throughout the year, and many of you have been using these measures in your work for years. The reason our state's system will be strong next year is because of these measures, developed by our teachers and validated by national experts on our technical advisory committee.

With that work continuing through the coming months, we still must have a fair plan for this year's evaluations. With the help of your union leaders, we have finalized this year's policy:

For the 2011/12 school year, educator summative ratings will be determined without use of Component V except as used to identify highly effective teachers, as noted below. Using Components I - IV, an educator's summative rating will be determined as follows:

o 0 or 1 satisfactory components = Ineffective summative rating

o 2 satisfactory components = Needs Improvement summative rating

o 3 or 4 satisfactory components = Effective summative rating

Only teachers of DCAS-tested subjects (math, English Language Arts in grades 3-10) will receive a Component V score for this year. They will be eligible for a Highly Effective summative rating and therefore eligible for incentive and retention bonuses. Details on the incentive/retention program will be finalized and announced this spring and will be voluntary at the local level.

Thank you again for your patience and assistance in this work. I look forward to continuing to hear from you and working with you as we move forward together on this and other work with the shared ultimate goal in mind: a stronger school system for our children. Like all of our work, this begins and ends with the students. I know you share that motivation with me, and I thank you for your dedication to our students.

If you have any questions or would like more information on this change, please contact Deputy Secretary of Education and Chief of Staff Dan Cruce at dcruce@doe.k12.de.us.


Sincerely,

Lillian

Lillian M. Lowery
Secretary of Education

Another child taken too soon...broken hearts all around...

Yes, this is usually a mantra you'd read on Transparentchristina.wordpress.org.  I'm taking a play from their playbook and the question stands:  When will Mayor Baker dedicate the necessary resources to make Wimington's streets safe for children?

Larry J.A. Parks III was fatally shot in the chest shortly before 4 p.m. in the 300 block of New Castle Ave., where Wilmington police officers found him lying in the street.

Mr. Parks' deaths marks the THIRD homicide in Wilmington this year - that's an average of 1 per week. It's still January!  It's nothing short of criminal that the Mayor has failed to deploy the resources to tackle the issue of violence in the City.  He's failed to make the streets safe for our children. 

Rest Peacefully, Mr. Parks.  From what I've read, you will be deeply missed by your family, your peers, and your teachers. 

Mayor - It's time to get to work!

Rich Heffron, of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, said his group opposed the fee when it was first proposed more than a decade ago.  http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012201220342

Something about this statement in yesterday's News Journal really rubbed me the wrong way - perhaps more than Reybold's veiled attempt to stimulate their profit margins...

And when I thought back to Delaware's Winning Race to the Top Application - you know the great plan to deform public education - I remembered  the "Letters of Support" - most notably the  Delaware Chamber of Commerce's letter which was includethe RTTT application.  It can be found in Appendix (A)(2) – 8."

These particular portions of that letter stand out to me:

The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce is the largest most influential business organization in the state. The mission of the state chamber is to promote an economic climate that strengthens the competitiveness of Delaware businesses and benefits citizens of the state.  This can only be accomplished by growing a workforce that has a solid educational background with all Delaware public school students having access to the best possible education in the world.

The Chamber has embraced support of education as a primary, long-term strategic goal of our organization...

On behalf of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, I offer my full support to our state leaders and educators in your industrious dedication and tireless work to create world-class schools that will benefit all Delawareans...  Link HERE p 60

Um, yeah, and that's why the Chamber put it's full support behind the Voluntary School Assessment back in the 1990s.  NOT.  The Chamber supports education as long as business is likely to benefit financially from a new industry built entirely around NCLB/RTTT. But, the second education might actually cost them a red cent, they balk, and they do so publically in the News Journal.

The Chamber has opposed the Voluntary Assessment for more than a decade.  They believe that builders should not pay, nor act as a condoit for such payment, into the educational system that will serve the children of those who buy the homes they build.  The Voluntary Assessment helps build capacity in schools.  The funding is needed even if developments go up in reclaimed areas where schools are not at capacity.  Districts age and their facilities need attention.  Districts in turn pay-out to business for the minor and major capital projects. The investment returns itself in spades (and jobs) for the business community.  But, the Chamber seems to be of the same mind as Reybold that this assessment should be assessed over all tax payers.  Yeah, and school districts can raise your taxes anytime they want.  NOT.  Um, that's why we have referendums.

Anyway, I just wanted to put it out there - the Star Chamber of Commerce is speaking out both sides of their ass on this one.  They fully support DOE as evidenced by their letter in support of RTTT as long it doesn't affect their members' bottom line.  I'm calling bullshit!

Reybold wants their share of school funding back... Or at least a legislated change in the Voluntary School Assessment formula - a non-voluntary assessment that helps fund additional classrooms when new neighborhoods are built. 

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012201220342

Jerome Heisler, of the Reybold Venture Group, said in the suit filed Dec. 28 in U.S. District Court that the state's Voluntary School Assessment is flawed because the amount of the fee is the same whether the new housing unit is an efficiency apartment or a seven-bedroom McMansion.

"The Voluntary School Assessment, calculated on a per-unit basis, is discriminatory in that it ... burdens basic freedoms by limiting the selection of areas in which low-income persons, the majority of whom are ... minorities, can purchase new housing," the lawsuit says.

Department of Education spokeswoman Alison Kepner said she couldn't comment on the specifics of the suit.

The assessment on face value is probably unfair.  It is overly burdensome for builders who target housing for the middle class and the poor.  But, then, it's a safe statistical assumption that most builders pass that assessment cost onto their buyers.  And that's the crux of the Reybold argument: A buyer than can only afford a $30,000 mobile home will have a tougher time finding the same $6,000 that the buyer of the McMansion foots. 

However, Reybold's suit is asking for something more than legislated changes to equalize the assessment: 

The suit asks the court to declare the Voluntary School Assessment "discriminatory and/or unconstitutional, and therefore unenforceable." It seeks an injunction that would halt the collection of the fee and force the state to refund the fees collected to date.

I can go along to get-along with most of the argument - but this is where Reybold loses me.  The builder is suing to force the state to refund the fees collected to date.  So, off the top of my head, I find myself asking:

• Let's be clear here - If the management at Reybold truly thought this fee would hurt their clientele, they would have filed this suit back in 1999 when the Assessment hit the books. It's curious that they've waited 13 years to object. Perhaps this is a response to the recession and Reybold has seen their sales decline?  I'm just saying that the motivation as purported by the suit is not the true motivation of the builder, but just an ancillary fact that bolsters their argument...  
•  Say this suit gathers steam:  If the court orders a refund, who gets it? The builder who likely passed the fee down to his buyer? Or the buyer who may have paid the fee without even knowing they were funding schools?
• If the court orders a refund, what's the impact to tax payers?  From the DOE spokesperson:

If that were to happen, Kepner said, the school- expansion costs to accommodate the students who live in houses that paid the fee would have to be funded another way.

"All taxpayers in the school districts would have to pay the costs associated with building capacity to serve the new subdivisions," Kepner said.

That's DOE speak for we spent that money and we don't have any to refund, so we'll find away to push that along to the tax payers. 

That's part and parcel with the Governor's plan for fiscal responsibility and it's just scary.  Delaware's Gov has raided education spending for three years to balance the state's budget.  He's eliminated programs such as the one that provided reading specialists in our schools, moved dedicated education dollars into the general fund where such monies can be spent on things other than education.  Though he was rebuffed in year one in regards to transportation funding, last year he did manage to push off a substantial chunk of transportation costs to the local districts.  It's already been forecast that when the Gov. releases his next proposed budget that there will be more money diverted away from education. So just how would the Gov raise enough money to reimburse the builders for the not-voluntary Voluntary School Assessment Fees? 

Let's just hope that some of our legislators keyed into this News Journal story and will act to equalize the fee before the DOE has a chance to lose the lawsuit with Reybold.

This ought to make you sick.  If it doesn't, you have no heart.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up the issue of prayers at school board meetings.

The justices declined to hear the appeal of a school board in Delaware, which had its practice of reciting prayers before its public board meetings struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, in Philadelphia. www.edweek.org

While some states are union-busting, Delaware's apparently busting out new unions...

Pete Seeger on Unions...

Well, well, well DEducrats - It's happened! It's really really happened! Delaware College Preparatory Academy has unionized!  Wonder what the Rodelleans will think when this hits the press in the morning?  Should the Delaware Charter School Network be concerned?  Are you? I'd love for you to be my thought partner on this one!!!

And let's just toss out there this game-changer:   if Charter schools are the educational panacea for which we all search - why would the staff of a Delaware Charter vote for unionization?

Link to the Most Recent published minutes of a DCPA Board Meeting:
October 2011
November 2011
Charter Unionized

"This commutation in no way relieves Mr. Gattis of his moral or legal guilt, and I am mindful of the fact that an innocent victim lost her life on the night of May 9, 1990," Markell said, adding the decision to spare Gattis life was "among the most difficult I have had to make in all my years in public service." - News Journal

Apparently the Gov. was not mindful enough the respect the sentence bestowed on Mr. Gattis by the jury of his peers for the murder of former girlfriend Shirley Slay. 


Normally, I wouldn't talk the death penalty on this blog - but this is just one more instance of poor judgement exemplified by Gov. 

"Keeping the person in prison is still protecting society,"said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.

Lest any one among us is confused... Keeping murderers in prison is "still protecting society."  But, the issue is deeper... Gattis murdered someone and was sentenced to death.  

"At last week's Board of Pardons hearings, Gattis acknowledged for the first time that he intentionally executed Slay in cold blood inside her New Castle-area apartment."

For twenty years, Gattis has had a free ride in prison and my tax dollars have supported him. Gov. Markell can see fit to expend more tax payer money to keep an admitted murder in prison for life, but he doesn't bat an eyelash when it comes to cutting state education funding and pushing the expenses off onto the local share...


The Gov.'s obligation was to uphold the decision of the jury and to do so in a fiscally-acceptable way.  He failed in both arenas.


 How very, very sad.