Governor Jack Markell (D-Delaware) says he’s heard for some time about the “September 30th problem”— that is, how funding uncertainty over the summer has led Delaware public schools to hire teachers later than other states.
Now, Markell and members of the General Assembly believe they’ve solved that problem with Senate Bill 16, signed into law by the governor Wednesday. The new law puts into practice recommendations from the Delaware Teacher Hiring Task Force released last December, including compiling spring student population estimates and using them to guarantee minimum amounts of state funding for teachers. Currently, teacher funding is based on student head counts done at the end of September. Supporters say the earlier estimates and funding promise will encourage schools to hire teachers in spring and early summer, rather than late summer and fall, making Delaware more competitive with other states for top teachers.
“We were putting obstacles in the way of Delaware schools for hiring the best and brightest,” said Markell. “This [law] is about taking it out of the 30,000 foot rhetoric and saying what specifically can we do to fix a problem and put us in a better place in terms of teacher recruitment.”
Under the new law the state will guarantee districts receive funding for 98 percent of the spring estimate student population count. The first count is expected to be ready in 30 days, in time for hiring teachers for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year.
“By getting the bill passed and signed we can give our districts the ability to make early hiring decisions this year versus next year,” said Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn, who chaired the Teacher Hiring Task Force. “The Education Department is confident that they can get it done and in 30 days we’ll give to the districts a guarantee of what 98 percent of their funding will be in September. With that certainty, school districts are telling us they can make offers in June and July, rather than August.”
The new law calls for using existing resources to cover the costs of compiling the spring student count estimates. Bill sponsor State Sen. David Sokola (D-Newark) says that is not unreasonably optimistic even though the task force reported the cost could run between $50,000 and $100,000. “Looking at the technology available for projecting numbers, we think we have more capability to do that accurately than we used to.”
Denn is optimistic there will be no additional cost to the state to create the early estimates.
“The only reason there would ever be a cost is if the estimate is off, if you guarantee funding to a school district and later it turns out it doesn’t need the funding ” said Denn. “If the system works perfectly, there will be no cost.”
The bill does include a sunset provision, requiring the law be reauthorized before April 1, 2012. Sokola and Denn say that will give the state a chance to see how accurate the 2011 estimates were and determine if changes are needed. The state may also consider penalties for schools that do not take advantage of the estimates and hire sooner.
“In an earlier iteration of the bill, we had suggested some consequences for districts that didn’t take full advantage,” said Sokola. “We decided not to go that route yet, but as we build a little track record we’ll have some thoughts and get some feedback.”
“The hope is the positive incentive [of funding certainty] is sufficient,” said Denn. “The districts are telling us they want to make early hiring offers.”
TEACHER HIRING BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
Reaction to the new law’s purpose and implementation
A University of Delaware teacher job fair provided the backdrop for Wednesday’s bill signing. Nancy Brickhouse, interim dean of UD’s College of Education and Human Development, expects the new law will help Delaware compete for new UD graduates looking for work as teachers, like those attending the fair.
“If you hire early, you get your pick,” said Brickhouse. “We know why so many of our students left the state is because they didn’t get job offers. This provides the opportunity for them to get job offers while they’re still here, before they’ve packed up their apartments and gone home.”
Brickhouse says hiring UD graduates would benefit state schools because they often do their student teaching in Delaware schools, giving them experience and familiarity with local curriculum and policies.
“Many of them would love to stay here. We just need to get contracts to them,” said Brickhouse.
Markell agrees.
“They might have had an offer from an out-of-state district and wanted to stay in Delaware, but they had to cross their fingers to see if a Delaware district could actually hire them,” said Markell. “They’re not going to have to cross their fingers any longer.”
