Sen. Spiros Mantzavinos

Like Senate Bill No. 165, this Act requires the Department of Education to pilot a revised student improvement component under the Delaware Performance Appraisal System and Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System beginning in the 2025-2026 school year before implementing it statewide. The revised student improvement component must consider factors such as student absences, mobility, and noncompliance that may adversely affect a student’s performance. During the 2026-2027 academic year, the pilot program will expand, allowing for further refinement of implementation and support structures. Participants in the pilot program will be held harmless, so that the revised student improvement component will not factor into overall ratings. The program will be implemented statewide in 2027-2028 for all licensed and certified educators. Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 165 differs from SB 165 by holding also holding educators harmless during the pilot program and by making the following technical changes: • Using the word “school” to refer to school districts and charter schools because “local education agencies” is not a defined term in the Code. • Clarifying when the pilot program ends. • Reorganizing the provisions to conform to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This Act enacts the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists (“Compact”), which is designed to facilitate the interstate practice of school psychology in educational settings. School-based mental health services are in high demand in Delaware, but workforce shortages can make it difficult to meet that demand. By creating an additional licensing pathway for school psychologists to obtain equivalent licenses to practice school psychology in any state that is a member of the Compact, the Act aims to increase the availability of school psychological services for students in this State. The Interstate Compact for School Psychologists must be enacted in 7 states to become effective. The Compact has been enacted in 2 states and legislation is pending in several others.

This Act requires that members of school boards, including charter school boards, receive training on all of the following: 1. Requirements for school board meetings under this title and the Freedom of Information Act, Chapter 100 of Title 29. 2. Best practices regarding the conduct of meetings, including the use of rules of order. 3. The State Employees’, Officers’ and Officials’ Code of Conduct, subchapter I. of Chapter 58 of Title 29. Most school boards already provide training that satisfies the requirements under this Act and the training and notices required under this Act may be combined with the training and notices already required under § 1803 of Title 14 for required financial responsibility training.

Maddy summaryHB 64 requires Delaware school boards to provide remote access for public participation in meetings, directly affecting school board members and community residents. The bill mandates that meetings include a functional online platform - such as live streaming or video conferencing - allowing the public to view proceedings and submit comments remotely. This change ensures that residents who cannot attend in person, including those with mobility challenges or during emergencies, can engage with school governance. The provision applies to all regular and special school board meetings under Delaware law. It focuses on practical accessibility without altering school policies or funding.

Under current law, both school board members who are elected and those who are appointed to fill vacancies until the next election are required to complete a background check. However, the statute is currently unclear as to how a background check gets done and who is responsible for reviewing the background check for an appointment. This Act makes clear that a person may not be appointed unless a background check has been completed and the Commissioner of Elections has determined the person is qualified for the seat, in the same manner the Commissioner completes that duty for candidates for school board elections.

The language of this Act is identical to Senate Bill No. 25 of the 153rd General Assembly. The only difference between this Act and Senate Bill No. 25 is the title, which has been changed to clarify that the language includes the Public Employment Relations Act of Title 19. This Act allows an employee organization to file a petition with the Board to become the exclusive representative of an appropriate bargaining unit for the purpose of collective bargaining. In the event an employee organization provides over 50% of the employees’ approval, through their authorized signatures, then the Board may not order an election but must certify the employee organization. This Act also makes technical corrections to confirm existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

This House Substitute No. 1 provides that if a school board allows school board members to attend meetings remotely through electronic means, then permission to attend remotely must be granted in the case of any of the following: illness of the school board member; illness of an individual in the school board member’s family where that individual requires caretaking; a public health emergency; pregnancy or immediate postpartum care responsibilities of the school board member or the school board member’s spouse or partner; or military deployment of the school board member. This substitute for House Bill No. 83 differs from the original in that it does not require school boards to allow remote attendance. But if the school board does allow remote attendance, it provides the permissible reasons remote attendance may be allowed, allows a school board to limit the number of times permission to attend remotely may be granted, and indicates that a school board may not add to the statutory reasons for remote attendance. It also expands the permissible reasons from the original bill to include pregnancy or postpartum complications of a board member’s spouse or partner.

This Act incorporates changes made by HS1 for HB204, which was passed by both chambers during the 151st General Assembly, but never enacted into law. It removes the exemption for private schools and youth camps that allows them to use a name-based, rather than a fingerprint-based, background check or choose not to do background checks at all for employees, contractors and volunteers. This Act also authorizes the Superintendent of State Police to promulgate regulations relating to re-use of a criminal background check. The State Bureau of Identification is also required to provide subsequent criminal history information to the agency receiving background check information. Authority is given to the Department of Education to pay the costs of background checks for its employees. The Act also creates a new § 309A in Title 31, in response to a request from the federal government that the statutory authorization/requirement for private school background checks be separated from the statutory authorization for state and local government authorities. The Act also makes some technical and clarifying changes to existing statutory language. The Act takes effect on July 1, 2026 and child-serving entities and private schools must comply with the requirements by September 1, 2026. This Substitute differs from the original HB47 in that the effective date is in 2026 rather than 2025.

This Act removes the time restriction that only allowed for certain teachers or specialists who were hired after August 9, 2023, to obtain additional experience credit for purposes of salary computation. This Act would allow for teachers or specialists hired before August 9, 2023, to qualify for the same experience credit for purposes of salary computation.

Maddy summaryThis bill amends Delaware law to give the Department of Public Health (DPH) authority to approve supervised clinical training for mental health providers at school-based health centers. It directly affects mental health professionals seeking training placements within school health centers. The key provision establishes DPH as the official body responsible for approving these training rotations. This creates a formal process for integrating mental health provider training into school settings without altering existing center operations.