Tag: Christina School District
January 18, 2017 Open Thread
Richard Gregg to lead Christina School District, more homicides in Wilmington, Delaware has never seen a piece of land that shouldn’t be developed
The Settlement Between Christina and Charters Should Stand
The Short: Christina School District, DOE, and the general public gain previously non-existent oversight on how Charter Schools spend restricted money they are conditionally entitled to at a cost to the District of $150,000 (a one time payment to be divided equally among all 15 Plaintiff Charter Schools) plus the District’s legal fees.
Now, if you’re interested in the gritty details, come on inside and get comfortable, it’s a long read.
BREAKING: Charters vs Christina School District & DDOE Settlement
What’s it mean? The funds generated by the 2003 Christina School District referendum (10 cent referendum) that went to pay for 4 specific district programs will now be shared between District schools and all Charters and Choice schools that have Christina resident students attending them, it’s straight up division. Total revenue from $0.10 tax, divided by total number of Christina resident students enrolled in District, Charter, and Choice schools going forward (FY 18 and beyond).
For the current fiscal year (FY 17), Christina will take the total generated revenue from the $0.10 referendum (approximately $5.5 million according to the settlement), divide it by the total number of students and make payments to the appropriate schools by December 3oth. In addition to a one time payment in the amount of $150,000 to each of the plaintiff charter schools, which totals $2,250,000.
It’s Settled?
Nutshell: 4-3. Settlement accepted. What remains to be seen is how the best interests of our students are being served by taking the settlement. Once the language is made public, we’ll get a good idea of what each board member believes is in the best interest of our kids.
When Opinions Get It Wrong (Again)
When a Board of Education approves the request for an operating tax increase that specifies exactly what the new revenue will be used for within the District and voters approve it, that revenue shall only be used for the purposes described on the ballot as approved by the voters.
A specific example would be the operating tax increase request from Brandywine School District earlier this year to renovate 3 of their athletic fields with a new artificial turf surface. If it were approved, the revenue generated from the tax increase would only be used to renovate those 3 fields. No portion of the revenue would be included in the ‘local cost per student’ formula that determines the funding sent to charters for each student. Why? Because voters would have approved ballot language that stated an exact use for the money which, in this case, was for 3 of Brandywine School District’s athletic fields. This money, though local operating revenue, would have been a district specific exclusion, as mandated by voters.
It Was Bound To Happen – Charters Sue Christina & State
“Fifteen charter schools have filed suit against the state Department of Education and Christina School District to get what they claim is their fair share of funding.”
As you may be aware, the issue of public school districts hiding money from deserving Charters has been brought up before. Many times. Most recently in August, when the results of a months long funding adjustment made by DOE were first made public in the form of recalculated charter bills sent to the Districts. That was when the General Assembly, District leaders, and the public first became aware that changes were made and it eventually became clear that what started as a “statewide adjustment” of local per student funding was really just a thinly veiled attack on Christina School District originating from the Western Newark area.
Choose One: Smaller Classes, Art, Library, Gym, or Music
Librarian-Gate is happening right now in Christina School District. It’s kind of unfair to target just this one District though, because the other 15 districts have to go through this every year too. Someone somewhere got it from someone else that District administrators “promised” all librarians would be returning to Christina schools if the March […]
Delaware Contested School Board Seats – Unofficial Results
Abysmal turnout featured for Delaware School Board elections. Winners: Christina SD- Paige, Capital SD- Jackson, Caesar Rodney SD- Marasco, Lake Forest SD- Dempsey.
Christina School District Board Elections
I was asked in a comment on another post to weigh in on the Christina School District’s School Board elections tomorrow. I said my response deserved its own post; so here we go. I’ve been following the candidates over the last several weeks reading what they’ve been putting out on social media, listening to the feedback from people who attended the candidate forums. Tonight I attended the final candidate forum in person to hear the candidates first hand and I walked out feeling the same way I felt walking in.
April School District Happenings: New Castle County Edition
The oft unnoticed school board elections are happening in every New Castle County school district May 10th. In only one of the districts is an actual contest taking place. 5 of the 7 seats up for election across the county have candidates running unopposed, which too often is the case in BOE elections.
As anticipated, Brandywine School District will be returning to the public sometime in May seeking approval for capital and operating referenda. Last evening their Board voted to go back out; this time there will be no turf involved.
13,395 Votes
145 votes may not seem like a lot, but considering the margins from prior failed referenda: 2000 votes in February 2015, 900 votes in May 2015, there appears to be a trend emerging. 8100 total votes in February, 11,000 in May, 13,395 tonight. We closed a gigantic gap in a little over 1 year and got this referendum passed. There will be much analysis to come, but for right now I just want to give the unofficial final tally, and throw up a quick graphic of the percent change in turnout totals from May 2015 to March 2016. Our city of Wilmington community came through HUGE for u
What Brought the No Votes to Christina? Part I
A commenter on my previous post about supporting public education and “Super Referendum Wednesday” asked specifically about the Christina School District’s two failures last year and if there were any themes from no voters as to why they voted the way they did. Rather than answer it inline, I felt those themes deserved their own posts for visibility sake, That way the types of misinformation we have campaigned against for the last several years is put on display.
Yes, there are common themes among the no-voters that emerged from both elections, and they persist even today. Check out the CSDpavingtheway or Official District’s Facebook pages for proof. Better yet, read the comments on any article the News Journal posts about Christina on delawareonline.com, just be sure to have your eye bleach ready.
Do You Support Public Education in Delaware?
Christina has absolutely awesome programs. From the REACH program, to Gauger’s Business Professionals of America Team, to our outstanding arts programs, fantastic drama and performing arts programs, band and music programs, to Lego Robotics and Engineering clubs (YES! That’s a thing and makes me want to be in elementary school again!), career pathway programs like the new Forensic Science STEM program at Glasgow High School, Language Immersion programs to our amazing student athletes and budding philanthropists and advocates for those in need! These school programs are directly supported by operating funds raised through property taxes. And all of them depend on Christina’s operating referendum passing.
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