Why Should Delaware Care?
After school districts submitted facility evaluation tool responses to the Delaware Department of Education, Spotlight Delaware found there were more than 800 minor repair notes throughout the state. Minor repair concerns may not impact newer school buildings, but they can worsen existing problems in Delaware’s older schools and impact recruitment and retention of teachers at a time when that is already difficult.
Discussions surrounding schools’ needs in Delaware typically focus on areas like addressing teacher retention and student behavior. But facilities conditions are not at the forefront, despite being students’ learning and educators’ work environments.
That may change.
School districts have completed their own facility evaluations in the past, but were required to submit responses to a Delaware Department of Education’s facilities evaluation for the first time in May.
The department wasn’t looking at the responses from a cost perspective, but “the immediate goal is to continue to evaluate the facilities, the districts, and see where the significant issues are so that the districts are aware and we can provide supports,” said Jamie Mack, an education associate at the Delaware Department of Education.
The evaluation tool was divided into categories like mechanical systems, plumbing and structural concerns. Each category had a “Good Repair Question” about a facility’s issues or reliability, those completing the survey were able to rank their concerns as minor, moderate or major.
Spotlight Delaware found there were 836 minor, 315 moderate and 110 major repair notes across the state — though the Colonial School District did not submit a response.
Minor repairs take a toll on older buildings
Each school district also submitted basic building information, including the year each building was constructed. The average school in the state was constructed in 1972, making the average building more than 50 years old.
A minor response on the facilities evaluation tool could indicate that a system is still operational or can be easily remedied, but multiple minor repair notes take a toll on older buildings.
“Cracks in a newer building, that’s something that’s easily solved,” said Abdulaziz Banawi, a professor and director of the Engineering and Management Program at the University of Delaware. “But whenever you have small cracks in an older school, that indicates something bigger, like the whole foundation could be shifted or the ground beneath that building is not settled or [is] moving, and that’s a bigger problem for a structure.”
Banawi also noted that oftentimes older schools have infrastructure limitations, like old technology or heating and plumbing systems.
Spotlight Delaware spoke with three school districts — Brandywine, Indian River and Seaford — about their responses. Officials said they weren’t necessarily surprised by the evaluation tool results given their time spent on their district’s facilities and grounds teams. But some, like Seaford, have needed to consider whether it’s more cost-effective to continue renovating their older schools or just replace them with new schools.
The buildings, grounds and facilities department at Seaford was told that constructing a new middle school would only cost $1.3 million more than the renovation for its current school.
A district can easily determine the most cost-effective option. There are other points to take into consideration though, like if a district can demolish the building or if there is no other school in the surrounding area, Banawi said.
Some schools utilize mobile classrooms during renovations if there isn’t another school available. A space for 20 students and one teacher can cost $900 to $1,800 per month to rent and anywhere from $75,000 to $120,000 to purchase, making them too expensive for some districts to consider.
Impacts on recruitment, retention
The Delaware Department of Education submitted a $195 capital budget request for Fiscal Year 2026.
Based on its projected revenue, the department was not able to approve any new Certificate of Necessity requests this year that required any state obligations, said Kim Klein, the associate secretary of operations support for the Delaware Department of Education during the Nov. 14 public hearings for Fiscal Year 2026.
Districts submit these requests to the Delaware Department of Education for major capital improvement projects that cost more than $1 million. If approved, a district must pass a capital referendum because a percentage of the total cost is paid by a local share.
If the state department does not approve a request, the district is unlikely to complete all requested repairs.
The state’s teachers union, the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA), pushed for the “aggressive investment” of maintenance for the state’s schools at the Nov. 14 public hearings. DSEA also advocated for the creation of the facilities evaluation tool before its implementation.
School facilities impact student achievement, but they’re often under-discussed despite issues like mold affecting a student’s ability to learn, said Taylor Hawk, the director of legislation and political organizing at DSEA.
Studies have shown that poorly maintained school buildings are associated with lower student performance and higher absenteeism. Poor acoustics can also affect students by making it harder to understand their teachers, disrupting learning.
Students’ learning conditions are the same as educators’ working conditions, and issues with facilities could also impact teacher retention, Hawk added.
Delaware has been directly affected by the ongoing national teacher shortage. Issues like school climate and student behavior have consistently been labeled as reasons for poor teacher retention.
“When [educators] are working and they have these major issues, it 100% impacts their ability to stay or leave, and we just can’t afford that when we have so many vacancies,” Hawk said.
A need for standard evaluations
Experts like Banawi believe buildings should ideally be renovated every 15 to 20 years. Older buildings should have renovations done every 10 to 15 years.
Not every school follows that timeline though. Meredith Middle School in the Appoquinimink School District was constructed in 1927 and has never been renovated, according to the district’s survey.
“Some of the things that we’re learning as we work through this is, because the assessments are completed by the schools, we have to take the perspective into account to make sure that we have some standardization there,” Mack said.
Although district officials are very aware of the issues their older schools may have, groups like DSEA believe the uniform standards can help address districts’ funding concerns for major projects.
“These plans that the bill calls for are locally driven, but it’s really important that our facilities are judged and then funded based on need,” Hawk said. “In order to evaluate need, you have to have some standard instrument that districts can use in order to measure, so there’s consistency. Then when state leaders decide what should get funded, they’re doing it in a way that really prioritizes the districts and the schools that need it most.”
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