Legislature Passes All Five Bills on Lt. Governor's "Kids Agenda"

New laws will improve education and health care for children

For Immediate Release: July 01, 2009

Dover - Tonight, the Delaware State Senate passed the 3 remaining bills on Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn's "Kids Agenda" for 2009, meaning that all five of the bills on the agenda were passed by the General Assembly. Three of these bills make up the education reform package that Governor Markell and Lieutenant Governor Denn announced in the spring, the other two bills expand health insurance for children and developmental screening for infants and toddlers.

"I am very grateful to our legislature for making these bills a priority," Denn said, "and particularly to their chief sponsors, Senator Blevins, Senator Sokola, and Representative Schooley. In the face of the state's worst budget crisis in modern history, they still found the time and political will to take these important steps forward for Delaware's kids."

"Delaware PTA is grateful to Lt. Governor Matt Denn, Secretary Lowery, the sponsors, Senators Blevins and Sokola and Representative Schooley and the entire Legislature, as well as all the parents and guardians who called to support and pass these bills. It is vitally important that we continue to do these things which will help to improve the lives of all children in Delaware," said Bud Mullin, Delaware PTA President.

The bills will:

• Senate Bill 68 (sponsored by Senator Sokola): replace the Delaware State Testing Program with a statewide test that will be more useful to teachers, less stressful for students, and more helpful in charting student progress.

• Senate Bill 151 (sponsored by Senator Sokola), create a pilot Academic Achievement Awards program that gives large financial rewards (paid for by federal stimulus dollars) to the schools that make the most progress in educating at-risk kids. This will be Delaware's first state run program where schools receive substantial financial rewards for excellence in educating students.

• House Substitute 1 for House Bill 119 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), put procedures in place to direct more public dollars into the classroom and less into administrative overhead, while simultaneously giving schools more financial flexibility.

• House Bill 139 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), allow parents whose income exceeds the current limits for the Children's Health Insurance Program to purchase coverage for their children by paying a premium that reflects the actual cost to the state of covering those kids. The program has no cost to the state, but will provide an opportunity for many parents with uninsured kids to get their kids insured.

• House Bill 199 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), require insurance carriers to cover developmental screening for infants and toddlers. This has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, to improve our early detection of developmental problems in small children and allow for more effective treatment.

All of the bills have no additional cost to the State.

The education bills were drafted after Lt. Governor Denn and Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery hosted a dozen "Back to School" briefings to get public input across the state, and drew hundreds of participants in person and online. The briefings started a statewide dialogue on education reform that has resulted in legislation with public input that is now law.