Delaware

Our allies at Rodel in Delaware partner with innovators to transform public education in the state. They work side by side with educators and community leaders to form diverse collaboratives.

Their goal is to help Delaware become a global leader in educating each of its students to contribute and thrive.

State Allies:

Top Priorities for 2021

Advocate for increased state investment in pre-k and child care subsidy, including strong cost of care and rate setting methodology.

Influence governance consolidation to further consolidate early care and education services into the Department of Education.

Advocate for effective implementation of a common kindergarten registration and enrollment policy across the state.

Delaware’s 2020 Early Childhood Policy Landscape and Progress:

$4.67B STATE BUDGET
Estimated FY20 State General Fund Expenditures

ALIGNED GOVERNMENT
House (D), Senate (D)
Governor (D)

37% LOW-INCOME
35,497 Young Children (0-8) are Below 200% FPL

The pandemic triggered statewide budget cuts and little in the way of new investments. COVID-19 threw curveballs at the legislative session, but the education budget remained largely unscathed. The FY2021 Delaware budget maintains its commitment to most educational items and lays the foundation for work to come.

In partnership with the Vision Coalition, the Delaware Business Roundtable Education Committee, the Education Equity Coalition and First State Pre-k, Rodel had several successes.

SCR66 requests the Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance study extension of Medicaid coverage through the first year postpartum. Insurance coverage is a critical factor in determining women’s access to affordable postpartum care, is a key strategy for reducing preventable maternal mortality, and can help close racial disparities in the maternal mortality rate (NCSL).
SB 201 creates the Perinatal Quality Collaborative to improve pregnancy outcomes for women and newborns, including those related to obstetrical blood loss management, substance use disorder, and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NCSL).
Delaware Health and Social Services is now legislatively required to conduct a cost of care study for the first time. Findings will describe true cost of providing quality early care and education in Delaware and will be more accurate than the current market rate study currently used to set rates to reimburse child care providers.
General Funds increased by 18 percent in FY20 ($46,515,600) over FY19 (Mincic, 2020). There was an overall increase in child care from state and federal sources combined.
The FY21 budget maintains funding for Purchase of Care subsidies and the STARs Quality Rating System and includes new commitments to consolidating governance and determining a true cost of child care.
General Funds increased by 233 percent in FY20 ($813,986) from FY19. FY20 authorized funding includes $485,500 transferred to support home visiting with the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (Mincic, 2020).
15.3 percent increase in General Funds in FY20 ($6,509,100) over FY19 (Mincic, 2020).
Influenced governance changes to benefit providers and families: Office of Child Care Licensing and CCDF Quality Investments were consolidated into the Department of Education. IDEA Part C was consolidated into Public Health/Early Intervention (EI).
Maintained investments in child care subsidy and tiered reimbursement during difficult budget environment.

*Early childhood policy progress in a state is the result of numerous efforts — by those listed on this page and many others — who worked both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

State Budget Data: National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), “Table 4: Fiscal 2020 State General Fund, Estimated (Millions); The Fiscal Survey of the States.” Spring, 2020

Low-Income Data (including disaggregation by race): National Center for Children in Poverty, “NCCP Analysis of ACS 1-year Estimates—Public Use Microdata Sample, 2019.”

State Action Data: Provided by state advocates, October-November 2020, with analysis and synthesis by Frontera Strategy for Alliance for Early Success, “Protecting Progress and Investing in Scale: The 2020 50-State Progress Report on Early Childhood Education Policy.”

Additional State Actions: Mincic, Melissa, Early Care and Education, State Budget Actions, Fiscal Year 2020. National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), October 2020.

The Alliance for Early Success is achieving large-scale, long-lasting change for the state’s young children by providing our allies with powerful advantages that help them shape Delaware early childhood state policy.

Strategic, Outcomes-Focused Investments

Consulting and Strategy

Technical Support from National Expertise

Rapid Response Support

Connections/Access to Allies in Similar States

Roles in National Communities of Practice