Page 22 - Delaware Lawyer - Fall 2021

FEATURE
Disadvantaged Children
Barry M. Willoughby & Elisabeth S. Bradley
Serving
The Education Clause
of the 1897 Delaware
Constitution
I. Introduction
Article X, Section 1, of the Constitution of the State of Delaware dated June 4, 1897, known as the “Education Clause,” states the following in full: “The General Assembly shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a general and efficient system of free public schools, and may require by law that every child, not physically or mentally disabled, shall attend public school unless educated by other means.”
Delaware’s “system of free public schools” serves thousands of students each year. In the 2020-2021 school year, more than 138,000 students were enrolled in Delaware’s 215 pub- lic schools statewide.1 Those students, their families and approximately 9,900 teachers and 500 principals and assis- tant principals,2 are unlikely to forget the unprecedented challenges of the 2020-2021 school year. It should also be remembered, however, as a year for historic change to funding for Delaware public schools, with legislation making targeted funding for low-income stu- dents and English learners statewide a permanent part of state funding for
Delaware’s system of free public schools and resolving litigation alleging viola- tions of the Education Clause.3
II. History of the Education Clause4
The 1897 Constitution is Delaware’s most current and the fourth in Dela- ware’s history. The first Constitution, adopted in 1776,5 did not address edu- cation or public schools in any respect.6 The subsequent two iterations, adopted in 1792 and 1831, provided that the “Legislature shall, as soon as conve- niently may be, provide by law . . . for establishing schools, and promoting arts and sciences.”7
20 DELAWARE LAWYER FALL 2021