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Delaware

Delaware, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.

State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

2025 State Early Childhood Policy Environment and Progress

Early Childhood Landscape:

Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.

Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining

Approximately 32 percent (31,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (2022). This number represents a decrease from 42 percent (41,000) in 2017.¹

Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High

Black, Hispanic/Latino, and/or Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.²

(NOTE: Selecting for age 0-8, state, and race can yield small cell sizes that can make percentages less accurate. Bars marked with S indicate data with extremely small cell sizes, which is not displayed. Bars marked with C should be interpreted with caution. Though the cell sizes are larger, they still fall below a threshold of reliability.)

Advocacy Landscape:

State General Fund Appropriations: Growing

In June of 2025, Delaware’s governor signed the state’s fiscal 2026 budget. The budget provides for $6.5 billion in general fund operating spending and stayed within the governor’s “Budget Reset” growth rate of 7.37 percent. The governor also signed the state’s one-time supplemental appropriation bill providing $37 million for one-time expenditures, as well as the state’s grants-in-aid bill and capital budget bill (“Bond Bill”) for fiscal 2026. The state’s revenue forecast released in June 2025 estimates net general fund revenues totaling $6.78 billion for fiscal 2026, a 1.2 percent increase over fiscal 2025. The budget is also based on estimated unencumbered funds of $446.9 million. The budget maintains a balance in the rainy day fund (known as the “Budget Reserve Account”) of $365.4 million, in addition to $469.2 million in the separate Budget Stabilization Fund.³

Largest Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):⁴

- - Individual Income Tax: $2,393 per capita
  - Charges: $1,710 per capita

Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls. Delaware does not levy a general sales tax but it does have a gross receipts tax.

State Budget Rules:⁴

Delaware uses an annual budget. The legislature must pass a balanced budget, but it can carry a deficit into the following year. Delaware limits both spending and revenue growth with binding rules that require a legislative supermajority or a popular vote to override. A supermajority is also required for any legislation that increases taxes or revenues. Delaware also places limits on the total authorized debt and debt service the state can incur.

Permanent State Funding Stream Dedicated to Early Childhood:9 No

There is no permanent state funding stream—such as lottery revenue, nicotine tax, or trust fund distributions—dedicated by statute to early childhood supports. (Examples of other states with such funding in place can be found in the Alliance’s Revenue and Early Childhood Finance resource center.)

Political Alignment:⁶Aligned Democrat

During the legislative session, the state’s Senate and House were both Democrat controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Democrat.

Types of Common Ballot Measures Available:⁷One

- Legislature-Initiated Advisory Questions – Delaware does not allow citizen initiative, referendum, or recall. Several times in the state’s history, non-binding advisory ballot measures have been put before the voters in Delaware.

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:

Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:⁸

2025 Policy Progress:

Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:⁹

Advocates in Delaware are celebrating the new expansion of the “phase out period” for child care assistance. If a family’s gross monthly income has increased at their yearly redetermination in a way that would impact eligibility, the family can receive a graduated phase-out of child care assistance. Prior to the 2025 session, the phase out was from 200 percent of FPL to 215 percent. Epilogue language in the budget extends the phase out period to 300 percent. This policy allows families who enter at 200 percent of FPL ($60,000 for family of 4) or below to stay until 300 percent of FPL ($90,000 for family of 4) for another year. This will help support families as they continue to earn more, mitigate the benefits cliff, and bring the state in line with national best practice. he state increased the eligibility entry point for its state-funded pre-K program to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (it was previously set at 150 percent).

HR 14 continues the commitment to report out data and identify underspent resources by directing the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to prepare reports on the Purchase of Care subsidy program.

Delaware’s governor has declared a “literacy emergency” in the state and, in response, set aside $8 million that will support measurable, intelligent, and targeted literacy interventions.

Lawmakers also earmarked $3.5 million in the budget to support a universal breakfast program for all Delaware students.

The legislature appropriated an additional $1.7 million investment for data systems at DOE to create an online professional registry and move child care licensing online.

HS 1 for HB 15, in response to the urging of early learning educators, supports play-based learning from pre-k to 2nd grade, allowing for related professional development, and gives DDOE authority to set ongoing regulations.

SR 14 directs DDOE to review Delaware’s kindergarten assessments and readiness data processes and publish a report with findings and improvement recommendations.

Ongoing Grantee Areas of Advocacy:

Our lead ally in Delaware, Rodel, works with innovators to transform public education in the state. They work side by side with educators and community leaders to form diverse collaboratives. Rodel’s mission is to strengthen Delaware’s public education system and workforce by connecting partners to advance and implement sustainable solutions.

Rodel is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:

Early Care and Education

Preschool and Pre-K

Child Care

Child Care Workforce

Child and
Maternal Health

Home Visiting

Maternal Health

Family
Supports

Early Childhood Infrastructure

Early Childhood Finance and Cost Modeling

Early Childhood Governance

Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.

RECENT ADVOCACY SNAPSHOT:

The Alliance Network Helps Delaware Advocates Tailor Their Messaging—and Win New Child Care Funding

October 4, 2024

When advocates at Rodel in Delaware began planning a targeted messaging strategy for increasing child care subsidies, the Alliance connected them with Child Care Aware of America, who helped them build a dashboard that quantifies the gap in child care supply and demand at the local level. This allowed advocates to create fact sheets about the shortage of child care in each state legislative district and, ultimately, win more than $10 million in additional subsidy and reimbursement funding.

NOTES:

¹Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.

²National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.

³National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2026.

⁴Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, April 2025.

⁵Alliance for Early Success, State Examples of Dedicated Funding Streams, 2025

⁶National Conference of State Legislatures, 2025 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, January 31, 2025.

⁷Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, 2025.

⁸Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.

⁹Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2025.