This Act simplifies the licensing requirements for youth camps that are accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA) by requiring that the Department of Education's Office of Child Care Licensing (OCCL) deem a youth camp as meeting all equivalent health and safety requirements necessary for a youth camp license if the youth camp has ACA accreditation through August 30 of the current calendar year. By streamlining the OCCL licensing requirements for youth camps, this Act also increases the availability of summer child care that is eligible for provider reimbursement from the Purchase of Care (POC) program. Under existing OCCL regulations, a youth camp has the option of applying for either license exempt status or a license. To obtain a license, a youth camp must meet very detailed and specific requirements that are challenging, if not impossible, for many youth camps. ACA accreditation requires that a camp satisfies health and safety requirements that are similar and equivalent, but not identical, to the OCCL license requirements. However, an ACA accredited but license-exempt youth camp is unable to receive POC provider reimbursement because under the state plan for the federal Child Care and Development Fund, license exempt child care providers are not eligible for provider reimbursement. This Act also codifies the following policies that are in the current OCCL child care licensing regulations: • A youth camp license and the definition of “youth camp”. • The requirement that a youth camp must have a valid Division of Public Health permit to be licensed or approved as license exempt. • The school-age care, programs, and activities that are exempt from child care license requirements. This Act is effective immediately and § 3003A(c)(4)b. of Title 14 must be implemented no later than December 31, 2026. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
In 2025, the General Assembly passed House Bill No. 242 (now found at Chapter 135, Volume 85 of the Laws of Delaware), allowing school districts located entirely in New Castle County to use different tax rates for residential and non-residential properties. This Act amends the Delaware Code to continue the authority for non-vocational technical school districts in New Castle County to utilize a residential and non-residential tax rate for school tax purposes. Such a split rate may be established or adjusted in the year after a general reassessment or as part of a referendum. The rate must be uniform for each class of property. Under this Act, the non-residential rate must be at least equal to the residential rate and may be no more than 1.85 times the residential rate. For purposes of the split tax rate, a school district must follow the classifications of the county in which the district is located. Under the transition provisions of this Act, a district that initially established split tax rates under the authority of House Bill No. 242, may continue to use those split rates at the same or a lower ratio between residential and non-residential tax rates established in the 2025-2026 tax year. But if a district’s non-residential tax rate for the 2025-2026 tax year was more than 1.85 times the residential tax rate, it must adjust its rates to meet the 1.85 maximum ratio permitted under this Act. The New Castle County Vocational Technical District may not continue the use of different tax rates past the 2025-2026 tax year. The Act also changes the amount a school district must add to its tax rate to account for delinquencies and late payments to “up to 10%” rather than requiring that a school district must add exactly 10% to its tax rate for this purpose. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform this chapter of the Delaware Code to the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual and strikes references to the City of Wilmington School District, which no longer exists. It also revises § 1913 of Title 14 to reflect current practice. It strikes an outdated requirement in § 1918 of Title 14 that the school districts deliver a copy of the assessment list to the County along with their tax warrant. This is inconsistent with the role of the school districts and with current practice.
Although the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association is a unit of the Department of Education, officials are currently allowed to serve without completing background checks before serving. This Act provides that in the event an official for the DIAA is not an individual required to undergo a background check under the law that requires employees, contractors, and volunteers of the Department of Education to meet certain background check requirements, the DIAA must promulgate regulations requiring background checks of officials that meet the same requirements as those for employees, contractors, and volunteers of the Department. This Act further requires that officials complete diversity and anti-discrimination training, and requires student athletes to complete annual sportsmanship and anti-harassment training. This Act also clarifies that member schools must fully cooperate with DIAA investigations of alleged regulatory violations. Finally, this Act makes technical corrections to existing code to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Act takes effect on the earlier of July 1, 2027 or the date of notice in the Register of Regulations that regulations implementing this Act have been promulgated.
This Act provides special authority to school districts in New Castle County to reset their tax rate for the 2026-2027 tax year. This authority is necessary because several adjustments to the New Castle County tax roll are continuing to be made after the completion of the general reassessment that took effect for the 2025-2026 tax year. This includes the ongoing adjudication of appeals from the assessment values set in the general reassessment as well as quality control reviews, and potential changes pending in other legislation. This Act allows the New Castle County school districts to adjust the tax rate so that no increase in operating revenue over the prior year will be realized, with two exceptions: (1) revenue increases from approved referenda; and (2) revenue equal to the 5-year average growth rate for each district. The 5-year average growth rates for NCC districts are as follows: (1) Appoquinimink, 3.68%; (2) Brandywine, 0.54%; (3) Christina, 0.32%; (4) Colonial, 1.10%; (5) Red Clay, 0.58%; (6) Smyrna, 0.31%; and (7) New Castle County Vocational Technical, 0.96%. This Act sunsets on March 31, 2027.
This Act updates the school building maintenance standards to require the facilities evaluation instrument be established through regulation by the Department of Education rather than just through guidance from the Department. It also clarifies that the minimum standard of good repair facility category related to hazardous materials includes that of lead.
This Senate Joint Resolution directs the Delaware Department of Education to reevaluate the use of the SAT within Delaware’s accountability system while continuing to offer the SAT during the school day for students who wish to take it. The Resolution further directs the Department to engage educators statewide in developing a modernized accountability framework, explore additional measures permitted under federal law, recognize career readiness indicators such as industry credentials, dual enrollment, and work-based learning, and clarify that proficiency results are one indicator of postsecondary readiness rather than a sole measure of school quality. The Department will explore and develop a coherent high school assessment system, including a standards-aligned high school summative assessment and learning progress assessments, designed to provide timely, instructionally useful data while maintaining full compliance with federal accountability requirements.
This Act provides clarification that all individuals currently or prospectively serving as mentors to one or more students through a mentoring program under the Department of Education must submit to state and federal criminal background checks, and that they are subject to continued criminal record monitoring for 1 year.
This Act repeals the ability of school districts to increase tax rates by up to 10% when recalculating the district’s rate of taxation after a general reassessment. This Act does not repeal the requirement under § 1916(b) of Title 14 that a school district recalculate the district’s rate of taxation after a general reassessment, but instead of the 10% maximum, limits the amount of money a district can collect as a result of increases in the fair market value of real property to an amount that is equal to or less than the sum of all of the following: 1. The actual operating revenue derived by the tax levied in the fiscal year immediately preceding the general reassessment. 2. A percentage that is equal to the average growth rate in taxable property in the district since the previous reassessment. This Act also allows school districts to increase a tax approved in a referendum election under Chapter 19 of Title 14 by up to 2% annually without a referendum if the district’s operational reserve balance is not more than 10% of the district’s annual revenue and it is not the same fiscal year that the rate of taxation is recalculated after a general reassessment. This authority will allow school districts to maintain services for students by gradually adjusting to challenges such as inflation, enrollment changes, and increased student needs. Under this Act, the new recalculation equation under § 1916(b) of Title 14 applies beginning for the fiscal year following the next general reassessment and a school district cannot begin to increase tax rates by no more than 2% without a referendum until after the next general reassessment or for fiscal year 2031, whichever is earlier. This Act does not do any of the following: • Allow school districts to levy an additional tax that is more than 2% without an approved referendum. • Change the differences under current law for tax rates for vocational-technical districts. Under current law and this Act, vocational-technical districts are required to use the same calculations as other school districts when recalculating the rate of taxation after a general reassessment. However, the tax authority for vocational-technical districts is under Chapter 26 of Title 14, not Chapter 19, so the authority to annually increase a tax rate by 2% does not apply to vocational-technical districts. This Act also makes the following corresponding and technical changes to Chapter 19 of Title 14: • Revises the definitions in § 1901 by adding “general reassessment” and “reassessed” as defined terms and updates the definition of “district” to reflect current school district boundaries. • Clarifies that if Chapter 26 applies to a school district, the ability of a district to levy an additional tax under § 1902(a) does not apply to that district. • Technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Joint Resolution directs the Department of Education to compile and submit a comprehensive report regarding the workforce data and compensation of education support professionals for the most recent school year. The report must identify staffing levels, vacancies, average wages paid, and the number of employees earning below a $40 hourly wage threshold. The Department is further required to recommend pay scales that align with a minimum living wage and submit its findings to the General Assembly and relevant state offices by November 2, 2026.
This Act requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with school districts, charter schools, and vocational-technical school districts, to make findings and recommendations regarding the advisability of incorporating Delaware homeschool students into public school extracurricular activities within the public school that the student would be attending based on residence if that student were enrolled in public school or within charter schools or vocational-technical school districts, including the creation of a pilot program. The Department shall report its findings and recommendations by December 31, 2027. This Act expires on the date of publication in the Register of Regulations of a notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. The Director of the Division of Legislative Services shall provide notice to the Registrar of Regulations. Since the legal effect of a joint resolution would expire on November 3, 2026 (the date the General Assembly expires), this reporting requirement is being placed in the Laws of Delaware so as to continue its legal effect until the submission of notice that the Department has submitted its findings and recommendations. This Act expires on the promulgation of notice of the report required in Section 3 of this Act being submitted, which is why the Laws of Delaware are being amended rather than a more permanent change in Title 14 of the Delaware Code.
