State leaders: Urgency needed in school redistricting

Key state leaders say there is more energy now than there has been in decades to simplify the school system that splits the city of Wilmington among four different districts.

Gov. Jack Markell and many lawmakers want to capitalize on momentum and are pressing for quick action on redistricting.

"Forty years of using lines drawn by a federal judge is enough," Markell said at a March 9 Imagine Delaware forum sponsored by The News Journal, United Way and Rodel Foundation. "We should respect the wishes of city children, parents and community representatives and seize this moment of opportunity, because change must not wait another 40 years."

Others warn that the state can't rush into such a complicated issue without answering a lot of hard questions.

"I get that there's energy around this and I agree with that," said Rep. Kim Williams, vice chairman of the House Education Committee. "But this is not something that can be figured out over a cup of coffee. We've been operating this system for years and years and years, and it's not going to just take a couple of months to figure out how to change it."

Redistricting was thrust to the front of the state's educational agenda when the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee recommended it in its interim report in January. The group, established by Markell to find ways to improve education, proposed removing the Christina and Colonial school districts from the city and giving those schools and students to the Red Clay School District.

That would leave only Red Clay and Brandywine serving students in the city limits.

In his speech at the Imagine Delaware forum, Markell called for the Legislature to sign a bill this year to remove Christina from the city. Though he acknowledged many details needed to be worked out, Markell said it was important to capitalize on current momentum around redistricting.

"I do think there's a need for a sense of urgency," said Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark. "There are tough logistics, there's no doubt, but the adults have really got to be courageous and committed to finding solutions, even if they're tough, that are in the best interest of our schoolkids."

No matter how quickly lawmakers are able to move, redistricting won't happen for next school year. At the earliest, schools and students would change hands for the 2016-2017 school year, possibly even the 2017-2018 school year.

But Rep. Earl Jaques, chairman of the House Education Committee, says he wants to see a bill passed before this legislative session wraps up in June that would direct the State Board of Education to redraw district lines. That would get the ball rolling but still give the state enough time to answer the many questions that come with such a change, he said.

"I can't see it happening much before June, to tell you the truth, but I have a feeling that we're going to get it done," Jaques said. "I think there is a lot of energy and a lot of momentum around this, and I think we can make it happen."

This is not the first time state leaders have grappled with redistricting, but the many complicated issues that come with such a change have led to those efforts losing steam.

Jaques acknowledges the issues are formidable.

First, the complexities of school funding need to be worked out. High-poverty schools like those in the inner city require more resources to serve students' challenges, but districts usually receive less property tax money from the city than they do from the suburbs.

Christina's tax base in Wilmington does not provide enough money to pay for the students in Wilmington, Jaques said. That means Christina would see a significant financial benefit but Red Clay would be in a financial hole if the schools were simply handed over.

Williams, a former Red Clay school board member, said that's only one issue that needs to be resolved. State leaders will need to figure out things like who will pay the costs of moving building equipment and how teacher salaries will be adjusted if employees swap districts.

"I don't want us to look back 30 years from now and say, why didn't we sit down, slow it down, and make sure everything's in place?" Williams said. "I believe that we should still keep moving, but we need to have these questions answered."

The funding issue is the main reason why Red Clay administrators have not yet endorsed redistricting, saying they need to see specifics worked out before they can embrace the change.

"It's easy to say to 'turn them over,' but the details are extremely important," Merv Daugherty, Red Clay's superintendent said in the forum. "In our district, when everybody's at the table, the lift is a lot easier. To think that Red Clay can do this alone is not the case. We are going to have to have strong support."

Jaques also said one thing lawmakers have to consider is the legal context of the changes. The current four-district system was created as a result of desegregation, and the state has to make sure any redistricting effort does not run afoul of existing court orders.

"Sometimes when we run into bumps in the road, we're quick to move on to another subject," Jaques said. "We don't want that to happen this time around."

As Markell pushes for urgency, his administration has already tied redistricting to its highly-controversial Priority Schools initiative, allowing Christina to more or less escape the initiative if redistricting happens.

State officials have pushed to improve six inner-city Wilmington schools by bringing in top new school leaders and giving them flexibility to make new changes, but they have faced outrage from teachers who say that plan blames them for low test scores when the real problem is poverty.

Red Clay, which has three of the Priority Schools, struck a deal with the state, but Christina, which has the other three, resisted. Its school board eventually rejected plans for its schools, arguing the schools' current staffs are the right people for the job and the plans left open the possibility they could be replaced.

Originally, Markell's administration said Christina would lose its schools to closure, charter school operators, or an outside management organization if it didn't sign onto Priority Schools. But after the Committee's recommendations came out, the administration offered and Christina accepted redistricting as a way out.

The agreement Christina and the state signed says that, if there is not "meaningful action" taken toward redistricting by the end of June, the district would be back in a position to either sign the Priority Schools plans or hand over the three schools.

At the meeting in which Christina's board approved that agreement, board president Frederick Polaski said state leaders were operating as if the schools would be handed over by the 2016-2017 school year, only two years from now.

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.

If the Wilmington Education Advisory Committee's plan for redistricting is implemented by the legislature, five schools that are currently in the Christina School District would be moved to the Red Clay district. Students who live in the city and attend Christina high schools, which are located in the suburbs, would also be moved to Red Clay.

The Colonial school district serves some Wilmington students, but does not operate any schools in the city limits. Wilmington students in Colonial would move to Red Clay under the committee's plan.

One of the concerns about redistricting is that Red Clay would not receive enough tax revenue from the city to cover the costs of those schools, which serve large populations of students in poverty.

Bancroft Elementary

Students: 401

% low income: 79

Employees: 65

Elbert-Palmer Elementary

Students: 257

% low income: 89

Employees: 35

Pulaski Elementary

Students: 425

% low-income: 81

Employees: 40

Stubbs Elementary

Students: 311

% Low-income: 89

Employees: 31

Bayard Middle

Students: 467

% low-income: 79

Employees: 42

Source: Delaware Department of Education