Legislators push back redistricting vote to next year

• House and Senate lawmakers reached a last-minute compromise on a Wilmington school redistricting plan.
• Lawmakers agreed to give the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission $200,000 to continue its work.
• Gov. Jack Markell said he would include $7.5 million to implement the redistricting proposal.

One of Gov. Jack Markell's legacy issues will linger into the next administration since state lawmakers refused to pass education reform in the last hours of the legislative session.

A plan that was hailed as historic by civic leaders would have shifted money toward high-poverty schools and redistricted parts of Wilmington, but it failed to get enough support in the state Senate before the clock struck midnight Friday, ending the legislative session that started in January.

Lawmakers ultimately voted to allow the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, which created the plan, to continue its work and try to pass it again next year when Markell will be out of office.

His likely successor, U.S. Rep. John Carney, who is running on the Democratic ticket for governor, said in a prepared statement, "I believe strongly that we need to preserve the progress that WEIC has made and build on it next year."

Carney didn't commit to keeping the $7.5 million that Markell has promised to fund the program in the budget next year.

"I am, however, committed to doing whatever is necessary to give every child the quality education they deserve, particularly those facing the kinds of obstacles WEIC is most concerned about," he said.

State Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover South, is running for governor on the Republican ticket and opposes the plan.

The commission, which spent two years developing the plan, will go back to work to evaluate the fiscal impact for the city of Wilmington and the state as whole, said commission Chairman Tony Allen.

Weighted funding, which would provide more money to schools that educate poor students and those who are learning English as a second language, is a major part of the plan and could be implemented statewide, not just in Wilmington.

Students in the city are split among four suburban school districts, so the other major part of the plan had called for eliminating one of them, the Christina School District, and moving those students into the Red Clay Consolidated School District.

"This plan gave hope to parents in the community," said Jessica Gibson, 42, who raised her daughter in the city and navigated the complex system of traditional public schools, charter schools, and vo-tech schools.

"Now, there's another layer of let-down and defeat," she said, since the plan was put on hold.

The redistricting resolution failed 6-15 in the Senate on Thursday night, but Senate Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmer then proposed a package of legislation that gave the commission $200,000 and another year to craft a more detailed plan. That one passed.

"I do not think we're ready to give final approval to the school district lines," Blevins said on Thursday night. "I think there is more work to be done."

Jea Street, a New Castle County Councilman and long-time advocate for education reform in Wilmington, said that the legislature had stayed consistent with its treatment of city students since the 1950s – he characterized that agenda as "delay, obfuscation, and recalcitrance."

"Clearly, they've abdicated their responsibility to the courts," Street said of state legislators, referring to the possibility of a lawsuit against the state in order to force education reform.

The Neighborhood Schools Act, the creation of charter schools, and the School District Choice Enrollment Program – all of which were passed in the last 20 years after the school desegregation order was lifted in the 1990s – have contributed to a decline in education for inner-city children, Street said.

“Those three acts together have had a segregative effect,” he said. “Those children are entitled to relief.”

Wilmington's mayor, Dennis P. Williams, said of the outcome in the Legislature, "politics was played in Dover and it's unfortunate that we're in this situation."

But, Williams said, he'll have to further evaluate before committing to filing a lawsuit.

The commission's plan has been perhaps the most intensely controversial issue in this legislative session and city leaders have said the plan would begin to rectify decades of inequities for minority, inner-city kids.

The plan had a rough road to get to the legislature – at one point, it looked to be on the brink of failure when it was evaluated by the State Board of Education. Markell personally intervened on the commission's behalf to get approval from the state board for the plan.

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It finally went on to win approval in the House after a parade of passionate speeches from supporters.

But the clock ran out on the legislative session Thursday and the votes simply weren't there in the Senate.

Blevins voted against the original bill, saying she did not think the plan included enough key details, like what new buildings or renovations would be necessary to make redistricting work, what exactly would the extra money for high-poverty schools pay for, and how would the extra resources go directly to the classrooms.

Those concerns have been raised many times during the contentious hearings on the plan over the past few months.

Still, Blevins agreed that the state's school system was "leaving children behind" and said she didn't want to see the commission's plan die. So she proposed the package of legislation that gave the commission another year to craft a more detailed plan.

"We are going to make changes, we are going to make some decisions," Blevins said. "We do need more information, though."

Republicans voted against Blevins' alternative plan, just like they voted against the original. One Democrat, Rep. Kim Williams of Newport, voted against the Senate’s plan. Williams represents suburban Red Clay and sat on the school board there.

Some lawmakers said the move was nothing but a punt.

"If I'm reading these resolutions right, they're saying, 'We're not going to do this in an election year, we're going to do this as soon as we can,' " said Bonini.

"It could have been a very different outcome. It could have died," Markell said after the new plan was approved. "It's not everything we would have wanted on the timeline we wanted, but closer than ever."

The most vocal opponents of the bill were those lawmakers who represent suburban areas of the Red Clay district, which would be most affected by redistricting. Constituents in those districts dislike the plan because they fear it could lead to property tax hikes and major disruptions in schools.

"One of the things that I objected to on the original bills was that it didn't say how it was going to be paid for," said Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton. "We were told 'don't worry about it,' but I do worry about it because I represent a large chunk of Red Clay and they just passed a considerable referendum."

The Senate's actions came despite constant pressure from city leaders to pass the original bill. Wilmington-area lawmakers held a press conference Wednesday urging a vote, and city council members sent letters to lawmakers doing the same.

“It is the will of the people, in Wilmington and beyond, as expressed by support for the WEIC recommendations, that significant changes be made as to where our children will attend school and the amount of money being spent to provide them with a substantive education system," Council President Theo Gregory wrote. "It is time for the Senate to carry out the will of the people."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright. Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909, sspencer@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SSpencerTNJ