The following offers highlights of the recent legislative sessions. Precollegiate enrollment figures are based on fall 2006 data reported by state officials for public elementary and secondary schools. The figures for precollegiate education spending do not include federal flow-through funds, unless noted.
Delaware
|
|---|
| Democrat |
| Senate: 13 Democrats 8 Republicans |
| House: 19 Democrats 21 Republicans |
| Enrollment: 119,100 |
The state legislature made down payments on Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s top three education priorities in its recently concluded session.
In K-12 education, lawmakers allocated $1.9 million to fully finance all-day kindergarten in the 2008-09 school year and $2.7 million to place math specialists in middle schools.
The $3.3 billion fiscal 2008 budget also will almost double spending on the Democratic governor’s program to provide free tuition at state universities for students who have completed associate’s degrees at the state’s community colleges. The budget appropriates $2.3 million for the program in fiscal 2008, up from $1.3 million in the current year.
Overall, K-12 spending will be $1.1 billion in fiscal 2008, a $62.2 million increase over the current year. That is a 6 percent increase.
That total includes $9.6 million in general aid earmarked for the purpose of helping school districts handle enrollment increases.
