TEXT ON SCREEN (0:07)
What has the Delaware Department of Education done to make teacher compensation competitive with that of other states?
EMILY CUNNINGHAM (0:11)
So what we’re doing is we’re working with our General Assembly and Governor Carney and his administration along with DSEA, which is our teacher’s union, to try to figure out what is going to be best for teachers. We’re looking at Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey to figure out how Delaware can be competitive. So we signed Senate Bill 100, which is the Public Educator Compensation Committee. And so it’s a group of legislators, administrators, members of education who are really working together to try to figure out how as a state we can work together to raise teacher pay.
TEXT ON SCREEN (0:47)
Why did the Delaware Department of Education take this approach?
EMILY CUNNINGHAM (0:52)
So we had been talking with our teachers union for a long time and we know that our teachers need to be paid more. We need to be competitive, and we figured getting the best people around the table and having lots of different points of view. So we have members, we have teachers who are on the committee obviously, and then legislators who ultimately are going to have to figure out how to fund it. So having everybody come together to work, everybody brings their own special lens to it. And I think all of those people together ultimately are going to come up with a really good solution.
TEXT ON SCREEN (1:26)
What’s been the impact so far?
EMILY CUNNINGHAM (1:30)
So the bill was just signed, so we are about three meetings in. Our end goal I think is next November. And so what we’re doing is meeting every month. And then there are some smaller subcommittees that meet to really delve into the finances, say. Somebody who might not be in this, like a member of the General Assembly, might not fully understand the financial impact in a school or in a district. And so we’re really trying to focus on people’s expertise to have them work in the right committee to come together so we can work together because not one group or one person is going to fix this problem. It’s going to take all of us being together.