Chapter 8: Delaware

Delaware is a small but wealthy state, and its state educational system generally reflects this fact.¹ Article X of the current state constitution, adopted in 1897, addresses the state’s role in public education, requiring that “the General Assembly shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a general and efficient system of free public schools” and that “the General Assembly shall make provision for the annual payment…equitably apportioned among the school districts of the State.²” This mandate is described as relatively lenient, establishing some basic standards that the educational system must meet while lacking specific language about what such a system is meant to achieve.³