Lieutenant Governor's Report Finds Room for Improvement in Public School Spending

Schools Could Increase Direct Educational Spending by $28 Million Annually Without Raising Taxes

For Immediate Release: Friday, April 16, 2010

Wilmington - Lieutenant Governor Matthew Denn released his office's first annual report on public school district spending today. The report shows that Delaware school districts could spend an additional $28 million per year on direct educational services to students, with no additional expense to taxpayers, if they were all directing funds into the classroom at a uniformly high level.

The Lieutenant Governor's report, which is based on statistics from the most recently completed school year (2008-2009), shows that the Seaford, Caesar Rodney, and Cape Henlopen School Districts are spending the highest percentages of their total budgets on direct educational services to children. The report also shows that the Laurel and Appoquinimink School Districts are spending the lowest percentages of their total budgets on direct educational services to children. The Lieutenant Governor's report also shows that the Laurel and Appoquinimink districts spend higher percentages of their budgets on administrative expenses than the state's other 14 traditional school districts.

"I believe that public education spending should be one of the state's highest budget priorities," Denn said. "But it is also critical that our public school districts spend as much of their existing money as possible on services that directly impact student education. This report provides evidence that we could significantly expand support for teachers and other professionals who work directly with kids if our school districts made better use of the money they have."

The Lieutenant Governor's report is a continuation of an effort undertaken by the Lieutenant Governor, Governor Markell, and Secretary of Education Lowery in 2009 to encourage school districts to spend more funds in the classroom and less money on administrative overhead. This effort was reflected in the passage of House Substitute 1 for House Bill 119 by the General Assembly last June, and the implementation of Department of Education Regulation 738 last February.

In compiling the statistics for his report, the Lieutenant Governor calculated the additional funds that the state's school districts could have spent on direct educational services to children (without raising taxes) if each of them spent 76.72% of their budgets on such services-the average percentage of the state's top five performing districts. The total additional funds exceeded $28 million.

"These statistics are baseline numbers, drawn from a school year whose budget was prepared by local officials before the current administration and General Assembly took office," Denn said. "Our hope is that the statistics in coming school years for all of our districts will improve, and more dollars will be spent on direct educational services to kids, now that this issue has been highlighted."

Next week, the Lieutenant Governor's office will release comparative statistics for the state's vocational-technical schools and charter schools.

The 2010 School Spending Report Narrative can be viewed here.

The 2010 School Spending Chart can be viewed here.

The 2010 Vo-Tech School Spending Chart can be viewed here.

The 2010 Charter School Spending Chart can be viewed here.