The Delaware City Schools Board of Education met with Delaware City Council Monday and provided city officials with an update on district construction work as well as enrollment and budget projections.
The two bodies held their annual joint meeting in City Council Chambers, and Delaware City Schools Superintendent Heidi Kegley said the board was “very excited” to have the meeting and gave council a briefing about the district’s prior construction plans and said that all projects from the 2019 bond extension have been completed. Those projects included expansions to Dempsey Middle School as well as to Schultz, Conger, Carlisle and Woodward elementaries. There were also smaller improvements made throughout the district.
Kegley thanked city officials, especially for the input they offered on the relocation of Conger’s playground, parking and where buses pull up. Kegley said the changes “really enhanced” Conger and allowed students to have a playground that includes green space like the other elementary schools.
Looking ahead, Kegley said there are projects at Willis Education Center and “continued maintenance for roofs, parking lots, safety and building security.”
Kegley also thanked the city for the new crosswalk light outside Dempsey Middle School as well as the work the city did to improve crosswalks near Woodward.
“(The crosswalks are) wonderful, and (we) do appreciate those efforts,” she said.
Kegley added the district currently has 5,670 students, a drop in 64 students from 2018 when they had 5,734. She said the district’s projections estimate it will have 6,090 students in five years, and the district is expecting to grow by 700 students in a decade.
“This is manageable growth,” Kegley said, adding the district continues to monitor developments in the city. “(That) allows us to know where we need to have additions.”
Kegley noted the district does enrollment projections regularly, and new developments do not always mean new students.
City Manager Tom Homan discussed developments coming to the city and said they will continue to work with the district to help prepare them for areas of new growth.
“The growth is here,” Homan said. “We have to address it, and we have to figure out a way to manage it responsibly.”
Kegley and Delaware Treasurer/CFO Melissa Swearingen then discussed the impact of the state’s Fair School Funding Plan on the district, adding the district’s funding is “definitely headed in the right direction.”
Swearingen said that by the of the current budget cycle, the district will be receiving 66.75% of what it should be receiving, and if the current plan continues, the district will be receiving 100% of its expected funding by 2027.
Swearingen said the district will continue to advocate that the Fair School Funding Plan is “a good model that is working.”
She added the district had a $1.5 million positive variance in its funds compared to the projections for the current year as a result of increases in revenues and reductions of expenditures.
“That has a positive influence on our cash balance moving forward,” Swearingen said.
According to Swearingen, the district’s projections show a positive cash balance through 2027.
The school board will meet next on Sept. 11 in the meeting room at Willis.
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
