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EDITORIAL: The 2024 gubernatorial race and the education issue

Katie Tabeling August 23, 2024

As someone who has been a registered voter in Delaware for her whole life, I can say this is probably the most invested I have ever been in the governor’s race. Then again, I’m still young. That said, after an exciting presidential race in 2020 and a straightforward primary in the state, this one has

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Delaware's governor's race is heating up, with education emerging as a key issue amid ongoing challenges in development and policy reforms. l PHOTO BY UNSPLASH/ELEMENT5 DIGITAL[/caption] As someone who has been a registered voter in Delaware for her whole life, I can say this is probably the most invested I have ever been in the governor’s race. Then again, I’m still young. That said, after an exciting presidential race in 2020 and a straightforward primary in the state, this one has brought a lot of drama. But more importantly, there’s a wide variety of issues Delawareans now have to consider which direction to head in. Gov. John Carney has changed the game when it comes to economic development, disbanding the old Department of Economic Development and opting for a public-private partnership. He instituted a spending benchmark as a way to take the temperature of our finances — as well as the health care spending benchmark, which he later said was part of a longer game to get control of healthcare costs. And he’s created a second fund to make sure the state is accounting for “budget hiccups.” But when it comes to the business community, there’s some areas that many hoped to see results in. Permitting is still a major issue for development, with other states outracing Delaware in getting the shovel in the ground. Developing the programs and jobs to attract and keep young Delawareans who are beyond an entry-level position also is a struggle. But I would argue that we’re at a major tipping point with one critical area: education. At least two candidates I spoke with pinpointed it as the issue this election cycle, while the third argued it was a large piece to greater issues of cost-of-living and getting people the right opportunities. Right now, we’re at a major crossroads with our election system. The state has officially started the steps to remove Wilmington schools from the Christina School District, starting a long road to address years of fallout from bussing students that unintentionally led to resegregated schools in the Wilmington area. The Delaware State Assessment in 2022, shows that 41% of Delaware students in grades 3 to 8 were proficient in English while 30% were proficient in math. Every day, we’re still seeing the effects of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic had on students of all ages - and how that hit those in poverty harder than most. While out in the state the last few months, people have talked to me time and time again about their concerns about how three out of four students in fourth grade lack reading proficiency. Business leaders have told me they have concerns about how we are not setting up young Delawareans to succeed in our classrooms - which leads to problems in keeping families here as they consider better schools in Pennsylvania. As a business publication, our job is to serve as the voice for the business community, which means we have to consider how fiscal policy, development and other social issues impact the Delaware business owner. But education is a fiscal policy. Whoever sits in that chair has to best consider where to spend the dollars on Delaware’s future. It’s a workforce development policy. How are we best setting our children to be the next scientist, banker, software developer, economic, small business owner? I’d argue it also leads into land development policy, as people more often decide where they will live based on the school districts. I know I did. As of August 14, there are 780,745 registered voters in Delaware. But even more important, Delaware does not allow independents to vote in primaries, shutting out 28% of voters who aren’t registered Independents or who are registered with other parties. And that field is now the second largest voting block in Delaware, behind the 350,611 Democrats. They’ll just have to wait until November to decide among a narrowed field. I don’t believe in newspaper endorsements. One of my old editors who did endorsements told me once he felt like it was a symbolic effort, but it was likely to only change the minds of about 10 people. I’m taking that view, in some respects. I’m not asking our readers to vote one way or another. I’m asking our readers to consider looking at the priorities the candidates have set, and how that factors into Delaware’s education question. One way or another, this is likely to be the biggest issue a Delaware governor will have to face - the question is when.

EDITORIAL: The 2024 gubernatorial race and the education issue

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