Thank you!
On July 30th 2009, 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.
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. You can read more here and send us your thoughts here.
Mentoring
One of my goals as Lieutenant Governor will be to encourage for Delawareans to mentor children in our public schools. Mentoring provides not only much needed tutoring for children who may be struggling, but a caring and reliable supporter.
In addition to encouraging individuals to become mentors, I also am recruiting business to partner with specific schools. Not only will this provide a source of mentors, but my hope is that it can benefit schools in other ways as well, including finding ways to keep schools open into the evenings and weekends so they can serve as locations for more community activities.
To find out more, go to:
www.delawarementoring.org
