Education
The education of our children is extremely important to me. I am committed to their success. To ensure their success, I want to make sure teachers and paraprofessionals are given the tools and support they need, and parents are given a louder voice in their children’s education.
We must reduce the amount of state testing that is mandated on our children. The current state testing is extremely long and does not give a clear picture of how to help a child during the current school year. State testing creates stress and anxiety for our children and detracts from time that could be better spent educating our children. Additionally, it does not promote an atmosphere of collaboration and sharing of educational ideas amongst school districts.
We must not forget that skills and trade-based training in our schools is essential for a Delaware workforce. There are tremendous job opportunities for students who pursue the trades. We must encourage those students in their pursuit. With improvements in our economy, the demand for these positions in the workforce has increased. Electricians, carpenters, plumbers, boilermakers, welders, machinists, pipe layers, and other craft positions are needed in our State. We must encourage and not discourage people from entering these fields.
We must provide our high school students, who are college bound, with the opportunity to take vigorous courses. I truly believe courses at our high schools should be offered to prepare our students for a twenty first century economy. Dual Enrollment courses with colleges should be offered that provide for pathways in engineering, nursing, biology, and computer technology. Lastly, we must make college affordable for Delaware students. Money should not be a barrier that prevents hardworking, driven students from advancing their education.
Our children spend thousands of hours each year in school. This year we leveraged that time in school to provide more services that will catch and address the issues that prevent our kids from focusing on their school work. Working with my colleagues we funded programs to provide free breakfast and lunch for low income students, supported adding behavioral health services into our schools, and added in oral health health and vision screenings. All of these together will ensure our children are in a position to learn when they sit down in a classroom instead of worrying where their next meal will come from, stressing over their home life, or struggling to see the teacher at the front of the classroom.
We added on top of that an important initiative to increase focus in the classroom by storing children’s cell phones during class time. I far too often hear from teachers that their students are distracted by cell phones and this effort will help to alleviate and put the classroom back in the teachers hands.
Working with my colleagues we are instituting a series of raises that will bring our teachers up to $60,000 base salary by 2028 and bumps for support staff like
maintenance workers, paraprofessionals, and bus drivers. We have seen shortages in all of these areas the past few years and by increasing their compensation will remain competitive with our surrounding States and keep the quality teachers we have now will also be able to bring in high quality new teachers.
We must find ways to bring higher paying jobs to Kent County. The legislature can do more to help create an environment in which new businesses will want to make Delaware their home. Reducing excessive regulations and creating incentives for new and expanding businesses will help bring higher paying jobs. This can be done without hurting the quality of life in Kent County. We have a strong workforce in Kent County but we must ensure they are prepared for a twenty first century economy. We must offer, within our schools, education and training in technology and practices that will prepare our students for modern jobs. 
