Why Should Delaware Care?
If confirmed by the State Senate, Cynthia “Cindy” Marten would be the leader of the Delaware Department of Education, which can set policy and funding initiatives for the state 19 school districts and 26 charter schools. And as Delaware grapples with the national teacher shortage and determines whether to transform its public education funding formula, Marten’s previous experiences could be a key part of achieving Meyer administration goals.
With elected leaders, advocates and state families concerned about recent results by Delaware students coming out of the pandemic, Governor-elect Matt Meyer has tapped the U.S. deputy secretary of education to take on his reforms of state public education.
On Wednesday, Meyer nominated Cynthia “Cindy” Marten for state Secretary of Education, and essentially tasked her with guiding Delaware through discussions on potentially dramatic changes to how it funds schools, attracts and retains teachers, and addresses rising concerns with student behavior while meeting subject proficiency goals.
Marten has served in the No. 2 federal education role since being confirmed in May 2021. Prior to that she served for eight years as the superintendent of the San Diego (Calif.) Unified School District, one of the largest urban school districts in the nation.
Before entering administration, Marten spent 34 years as an educator and held roles ranging from teaching to principal positions.
As a Cabinet secretary in Delaware, she will face a much different challenge, where the state Department of Education holds little power to enact sweeping changes in classrooms. For the most part, the First State embraces local control, giving each of the 19 elected boards of education around the state significant power to set their own policies, budgets and agendas.
Meyer’s choice is also emblematic of the fact that he sees a need to shake up the status quo in Delaware. Both Education Secretaries under his predecessor, Gov. John Carney — Susan Bunting and Mark Holodick — were former state superintendents who spent nearly their entire careers in the state system.
Marten was not available for an interview regarding the nomination this week.
What Marten can bring
As superintendent, Marten directed the implementation of the San Diego district’s Vision 2020 commitment and its wellness policy, which aimed to provide quality schools in every neighborhood by promoting areas like student achievement.
“Cindy Marten is a proven leader with a deep understanding of the challenges that students and educators face. She has spent her career working to ensure every student has the tools and resources they need to thrive,” Meyer said in an announcement of his selection. “As Delaware’s next Secretary of Education, Cindy will guide our classrooms into a brighter future where equity, opportunity, and excellence are at the heart of everything we do.”
The announcement also cited Marten’s initiatives for K-12 education while serving in the U.S. Department of Education, where she oversaw a $230 billion budget and more than 4,000 federal employees.
Meyer, who spent several years teaching middle school math at the now-closed Prestige Academy charter school in Wilmington before entering politics, also noted their alignment on reforming the public education funding system.
Adjusting Delaware’s funding formula was at the top of Meyer’s education plan, and Marten’s leadership experience at the San Diego Unified School District started when California switched to its Local Control Funding Formula.
California’s funding formula creates funding targets based on student characteristics and provides greater flexibility to use these funds to improve student outcomes. It’s yet another example of a weighted funding formula that Delaware could use as a model to implement its own changes.
Studies have shown that greater spending leads to a variety of outcomes, like improvement in student performance and graduation rates. Both of those factors were areas that President Joe Biden highlighted when he first nominated Marten for her federal position.
Meyer’s nomination has received a variety of support from education advocates across the state, like Delaware State Education Association President Stephanie Ingram, State Rep. Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington) and Delaware Charter Schools Network Executive Director Kendall Massett.
Marten’s time in Calif. scrutinized
Although Marten has received support from many of the state’s education advocates, her nomination with the Biden administration faced criticism by local California families, charter and school choice advocates, and more. While she testified before Congress in March 2021, local community members protested in San Diego in opposition to her selection.
The nonprofit news outlet Voice of San Diego also covered attempts by Marten’s administration to eliminate public records and its uneven results in the Vision 2020 plan.
Groups like the National Parents Union and San Diego NAACP Branch argued that the city’s school district was notable for its “wide performance gaps” between Black and Latino students compared to white students.
A 2019 study by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab, a national research laboratory under the Interwork Institute at San Diego State University, found that the suspension rate for Black girls in the San Diego Unified School District was 46% higher than the district average. It also found that the suspension rate for Black males was 206% higher.
“Cindy Marten was confirmed by the United States Senate with bipartisan support and unanimous consent from Senate Democrats,” wrote Mila Myles, the communications director for Meyer, when asked if the governor-elect knew of these concerns before Marten’s selection. “President Biden chose her as deputy secretary because he knows her heart and values her commitment to advocating for equitable education practices and addressing opportunity gaps for all children. Governor-elect Meyer feels the same way.”
Both then-Delaware Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons voted to approve Marten’s confirmation, which passed 54-44 with six Republicans joining Democrats in support.
In her confirmation hearing, Marten was asked specifically about achievement gaps between white and minority students within a certain cluster of San Diego schools.
She responded instead by emphasizing that such disparities have been a challenge in the district for many years and remarked on the progress that the district as a whole had made in reducing such gaps. As the second largest district in California, the San Diego Unified School District has more than 100,000 students at more than 225 schools.
“For us, it was around building capacity, a relentless focus around professional development in our classrooms with our educators on an ongoing basis to improve outcomes for students. Professional development has been key to the work that we have done in that area. We have also made investments in the investment around equity where there is greater need. We have doubled down on our investment in the schools that needed additional supports,” she said.
Some Delaware education advocates have heard of past concerns relating to Marten’s time in San Diego, but said this week that they still feel confident in Meyer’s choice.
“If you look back at her nomination to Deputy Secretary of Education, I know there were some concerns,” said Britney Mumford, the executive director of DelawareKidsCAN, an advocacy group for student-focused reforms. “But here in Delaware, I know that, at least speaking for DelawareKidsCAN, we’re completely confident in the Meyer administration and who he’s choosing to be the leader and to fulfill his vision.”
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