Delaware

Delaware law contains a provision allowing local school boards to refuse to accept applications in any given year, which is a potential deterrent for applicants. The law does not contain a similar provision for the state department of education.

Delaware law allows new start-ups and public school conversions.

Delaware law requires applicants for public school conversions to apply to local school boards and applicants for new start-ups to apply to either local school boards or the state department of education with assent from the state secretary of education and the state board of education.

The law requires local school boards to vote every year in public prior to September 1st to affirm that they are interested in authorizing.While the law does not require the legislature and governor to regularly review the performance of the state department of education as an authorizer, they can do so at any time. In addition, the ability of the state department of education to continue authorizing can be removed by the legislature and governor (the entities that gave it that authority).
Delaware law requires the state department of education to prepare a report for the governor and the general assembly on the success or failure of charter schools and propose changes in state law necessary to improve or change the charter school program. It requires such report to contain a section comparing the per student expenditures of charter schools, considering all sources of such expenditures, with those of other public schools. It also requires the report to contain the secretary of education’s analysis of, recommendations relating to, and proposed changes relating to Delaware education laws in light of the content of annual reports submitted by charter schools and the secretary’s assessment of specific opportunities and barriers relating to the implementation of charter schools’ innovations in the broader Delaware public education school system.
It does not contain at least a registration process for local school boards to affirm their interest in chartering to the state, does not require authorizers to submit an annual report that summarizes the agency’s authorizing activities as well as the performance of its school portfolio, does not require a regular review process of local school board authorizers by the state, and does not give the state the authority to sanction local school board authorizers.

Delaware law does not include any of the model law's provisions for adequate authorizer funding.

Delaware law contains application elements for all schools. Delaware law contains additional application elements specific to conversion schools.
Delaware law allows highly successful charter school operators to submit an application to operate a charter school at the site of and serving students currently attending a charter school whose charter has been revoked, has not been renewed, or whose charter is on formal review and whose board has agreed to abandon their charter. If approved, the law allows these schools to open more quickly than the standard process.

Delaware law requires public hearings during the review and decision-making processes.

Delaware law provides that applicants seeking a charter from the state department of education that have submitted an application deemed by the department sufficient to receive a full review shall be offered an opportunity for an interview in support of the application. A similar provision does not exist for applicants seeking charters from local school districts. The law requires the authorizer to hold a public hearing to decide the appropriate action regarding the application.

Delaware regulation calls for a preliminary and final report that is made public to be presented to each applicant, which details in writing the comments of the committee concerning the application.

Upon approval of a charter school application, the law requires the state department of education to present applicants seeking a charter from the state with a charter contract that clearly defines the respective roles, powers, and responsibilities of the school and the approving authority and incorporates the provisions of the performance agreement entered into between the charter school and its approving authority pursuant to state regulations. The law provides that other approving authorities may choose to present applications they approve with such a charter contract. The law also states that where a charter contract is utilized, both the school and the approving authority shall execute the charter contract.
For state-authorized pubic charter schools, Delaware regulation provides that following charter approval, but not later than a date established by the state department of education, the applicant must enter into a performance agreement approved by the state department of education with the assent of the state board of education, which shall address the organizational, academic and financial performance expectations of the applicant during the term of the charter. The regulations require the state department of education, with the assent of the state board of education, to establish and publish a performance framework that shall be used to assess the school’s compliance with its performance agreement.
For an applicant proposing to serve students at risk of academic failure, regulations provide that the school’s performance agreement shall specify what, if any, portion of the performance framework shall or shall not apply to the school or whether the performance framework shall be modified to more appropriately measure the performance of the school.

The above provisions do not apply to charters authorized by local school boards.

Delaware law provides an initial term of four operating years.

Delaware law requires charter schools to submit annual performance reports. The law provides that the state department of education must determine content of annual reports, in addition to progress meeting performance goals and standards and a financial statement.
Delaware regulation requires the state department of education to conduct annual performance reviews of state-authorized charters based on a performance framework and to provide the results of the performance review to the school. This provision does not apply to charter schools authorized by local school boards.

Delaware law requires charter schools to undergo annual financial audits. It also provides that when a charter school knows or reasonably should know that it has or will become unable to pay in full its projected expenses as they fall due, the school must immediately so advise the state department of education and must provide the state department with all financial information. The law provides that charter schools that fail to do so must be placed on formal review.

Delaware law gives authorizers authority to conduct or require oversight activities, limited to the approval criteria for a charter school outlined in state law.

Delaware law allows an authorizer to notify a charter of potential violations and submit the charter to formal review to determine whether the charter school is violating the terms of its charter and whether to order remedial measures.

Delaware law allows an authorizer to place a school on a probationary status subject to terms determined by the approving authority that are directly relevant to the violation or violations.

Delaware law requires an authorizer to review the performance of the charter school and determine its satisfactory compliance with the law and its charter four years after a charter school has opened and every five years thereafter.
The law requires the approving authority to issue a charter school renewal report and charter renewal application guidance to any charter school whose charter will expire the following year. It requires the renewal report to summarize the charter school’s performance record to date, based on the data required by law and the charter contract and provide notice of any weaknesses or concerns perceived by the approving authority concerning the charter school that may jeopardize its position in seeking renewal if not timely rectified. The law provides the charter school with 10 working days to respond to the renewal report and submit any corrections or clarifications for the report.

The law provides that the renewal process shall, at a minimum, provide an opportunity for the charter school to: present additional evidence, beyond the data contained in the renewal report, supporting its case for charter renewal; describe improvements undertaken or planned for the school; and detail the school’s plans for the next charter term.

The law requires the renewal application guidance to include the criteria that will guide the approving authority’s renewal decisions. It requires the renewal determinations by the state department of education to be based on a school’s performance framework and the terms set forth in the charter contract. The law allows other approving authorities to choose to adopt the criteria utilized by the department. The law requires each approving authority to develop a rubric based on its criteria for evaluating renewal applications and provide this rubric to applicants as part of the renewal application guidance.

Delaware law requires the governing board of a charter school seeking renewal to submit a renewal application to the approving authority pursuant to the renewal application guidance issued by the approving authority.

Delaware regulation provides that state-authorized charters shall be renewed only if the school receives a satisfactory performance review, with the performance reviews conducted by the state department of education using the performance framework approved by the state department with the assent of the state board of education. This provision does not apply to charter schools authorized by local school boards.

Delaware law allows an authorizer to revoke a charter contract if the charter school, or its representatives, commits a material fraud on the approving authority or misappropriates federal, state, or local funds, fails to comply with its charter or fails to satisfy, in its operation of the school, its approval criteria.

The law provides that a charter school may be renewed for successive five-year terms of duration and allows an approving authority to grant renewal with specific conditions for necessary improvements to a charter school. Where a charter school has demonstrated an outstanding record of performance, the law allows an approving authority to grant it a renewal term of ten years. The law provides that any charter school receiving such an extended renewal term shall, at the midpoint of the ten-year charter, be subject to an annual performance and program evaluation that includes academic, financial, and operations data that looks back to all of the years of the charter up to that point. If, upon this evaluation, the approving authority determines that the charter school’s level of performance is deficient by renewal standards, the law allows the approving authority to initiate the formal renewal and non-renewal process.

The law requires the authorizer to notify the school of any violations and commence a formal evaluation. Delaware law allows the charter school to comment on the initial report of alleged violations at a minimum of 15 days prior to final review by the authorizer. If grounds exist for further investigation, the law requires the authorizer to hold a public hearing and allow the charter to respond to the alleged violations within the report.

The law requires the authorizer to hold a public hearing to decide the appropriate action regarding the charter. Regulation calls for a written final report in which comments related to actions and concerns are made public.

Prior to any charter school closure decision, the law requires an approving authority to have developed and utilize a charter school closure protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records to new schools, and proper disposition of school funds, property, and assets in accordance with the requirements of the state’s charter school law and other applicable laws. It requires the protocol to specify tasks, timelines, and responsible parties, including delineating the respective duties of the school and the approving authority. In the event of a charter school closure for any reason, the law requires the approving authority to oversee and work with the closing school to ensure a smooth and orderly closure and transition for students and parents, as guided by the closure protocol.

The law also requires that the transfer of a charter from one authorizer to another before the expiration of the charter term must involve a petition by the school or its authorizer to the new authorizer.

Delaware law includes a small number of the model law’s provisions for educational service providers. Delaware law allows contracting with all types of educational service providers.
Delaware law provides that schools contracting with Education Service Providers must oversee and maintain authority over management, hold it accountable for performance as agreed under a written services agreement, and require annual financial reports of the education service provider.

Delaware law requires any person working in a public school to have background checks, including ESP employees who regularly come into contact with students.

While not in law or regulation, the state department of education’s application contains extensive application requirements for schools contracting with ESPs, including conflict of interest requirements.

Delaware law includes provisions regarding the legal status, the corporate status, and the powers of a charter school. These provisions make clear that charter schools are fiscally and legally autonomous entities with independent governing boards.

Delaware law requires charter schools to provide open enrollment to any student in the state. It prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, handicap, or national origin.
Delaware law allows, but does not require, charter schools to give preferences in student admissions to siblings of students currently enrolled at the school, to students attending an existing public school converted to charter status, and to children of a school's founders, so long as they constitute no more than 5% of the school's total student population.

Delaware law allows start-up charters to give the following types of preferences in student admissions as long as the school has described its preferences in the school's charter: students residing within a five-mile radius of the school; students residing within the regular school district in which the school is located; students who have a specific interest in the school's teaching methods, philosophy, or educational focus; students who are at risk of academic failure; and children of persons employed on a permanent basis for at least 30 hours per week during the school year by the charter school.
Delaware law requires charter schools to conduct a lottery in the case of over-enrollment.

Delaware law provides that charter schools are exempt from all provisions of the state's education code and all school district regulations, except as specified in the state's charter school law. In practice, the state does not provide charters with such extensive exemptions.
Delaware law requires charter teachers to be certified with certain exceptions.

Delaware state statute requires that non-charter public school teachers collectively bargain and that six topics must be covered in bargaining: wages, insurance or fringe benefits, hours, terms and conditions of employment, leave, and grievance procedures. No items are expressly excluded from bargaining.Delaware law provides that charter schools are exempt from participation in any district collective bargaining agreements.
Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, Delaware allowed mandatory agency fees. The Supreme Court decision renders that state law unconstitutional. There has not been any reactive legislation enacted that applies to teachers.
Delaware law states that employees may petition the Public Employment Relations Board for a change or decertification of the exclusive representative. Employees must demonstrate support with signatures from 30 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit and allege that the exclusive representative is no longer the choice of the majority of the employees in the bargaining unit. No petition shall be entertained in the first three years of an active collective bargaining agreement. Petitions must be filed no more than 180 days and no less than 120 days after the expiration of the agreement or if one year has passed since an initial election and no collective bargaining agreement has been executed. The law provides that an election is not necessary if the organization can demonstrate support from a majority of the unit. No election may be held within a year of the past election.

Delaware law allows independent public charter school boards to hold multiple charter contracts with independent fiscal and academic accountability for each school in the following situation: highly successful charter school operators that submit an application to operate a charter school at the site of and serving students currently attending a charter school whose charter has been revoked, has not been renewed, or whose charter is on formal review and whose board has agreed to abandon their charter. If approved, the law allows these schools to open more quickly than the standard process.

Delaware law is silent about charter eligibility and access.

Delaware law does not provide clarity regarding which entity is the LEA responsible for providing special education services. In practice, the charter school is the LEA. Delaware law provides charter schools with access to special support funded by the state for low incident high cost service through full access to the state's Interagency Collaborative Team.

Delaware law provides that charter schools are funded through the same funding formula used for districts, with some exceptions.Delaware law provides funding for charter school transportation at 75% of the average cost per student for transporting students within the vocational district in which the charter school is located.
Delaware law provides that all public school students, including public charter school students, in grades six through 12 may use annual student bus passes from the Delaware Transit Corporation for use on fixed route public transit.

In a national study of charter school funding (University of Arkansas, Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists, 2014), Delaware charter schools were receiving on average $8,776 per pupil, while traditional public schools would have received $13,363 for those students. As a result, the state's charter schools were receiving $4,587 per pupil - or 34.3% - less than what the traditional public schools would have received for those students. This figure includes all sources of funding, and analysis reveals continued inequities for operational, categorical, and capital funding (see component #19 for information on capital issues).

Delaware law requires the state department of education to administer a performance fund for charter schools, to be known as the “Charter School Performance Fund.” It requires the department to establish threshold eligibility requirements for applicants desiring to apply for funding, which shall include but not be limited to a proven track record of success, as measured by a performance framework established by the charter school’s authorizer or comparable measures as defined by the department. It also requires the department to establish criteria to evaluate applications for funding, which shall include but not be limited to the availability of supplemental funding from non-State sources at a ratio to be determined by the department. The law requires the department to prioritize those applications from applicants that have developed high-quality plans for start-up or expansion or serve high-need students, as defined by the department. The law provides that the fund shall be subject to appropriation and shall not exceed $5 million annually. The state is currently not providing any funding to this program.The law provides that the state shall fund minor capital improvements at charter schools in the same manner as the state funds such improvements at vocational technical school districts.
Delaware law provides that school districts must make unused buildings or space in buildings available for charter schools and must bargain in good faith over the cost of rent, services, and maintenance related to such space.

Delaware law requires the state department of education and state department of administrative services to publish a list of all vacant and unused buildings and portions of buildings owned by the state or school districts that may be suitable for charter schools.
Delaware law provides that charter schools are eligible to access tax-exempt bond financing through the Delaware Economic Development Authority and have access to the tax-exempt bond market through the county in which they reside. It also provides that charter schools have the same access to conduit bond financing as any other non-profit organization and that no state or local government unit may impose any condition or restriction on a charter school’s approval solely because the applicant is a public charter school.

Delaware law provides access to relevant employee retirement systems, but does not require participation.

Delaware law does not allow full-time virtual charter schools.