Governor's Weekly Message - New Law Lets Great New Teachers Make the First State their First Choice

Press Release

In his weekly message Governor Jack Markell focuses on a bill he signed this week (Senate Bill 16), creating a law that encourages school districts to make earlier employment offers to new teachers. The measure was signed at a Job Fair for prospective teachers at the University of Delaware.

"For a long time, Delaware was at a substantial competitive disadvantage in this area," said the Governor. "State law was written in a way that caused districts to have to hold off on extending offers to great potential candidates until late in the summer or early fall. It meant great potential teachers who wanted to work in Delaware would have to ignore offers from other states and keep their fingers crossed that the job would be theirs when school started."

Previously, school districts were not guaranteed full funding for teacher salaries until an official student count was issued by the state on September 30th. The new law establishes an "estimate unit count" for school districts in April of each year, giving districts the ability to determine how many teachers are needed for the start of the new school year much earlier. The proposed change in law came as the result of a Teacher Hiring Task Force.

"If no single factor is more important to our state's long term economic success than education, it's hard to imagine a single factor more important to educational success than having a great teacher," said the Governor. "Because so many came together to change the law, districts will be able to identify the best potential talent earlier in the process, make clear their commitment to put those teachers to work, and help make the First State teachers' first choice."

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