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As expected, Democrat Matt Meyer in the race to replace outgoing Delaware Gov. John Carney, who was term-limited. Currently the New Castle County executive, Meyer bested Republican state Rep. Mike Ramone 56%-41%. 

The outcome was widely expected in a deep blue state where the last Republican governor left office in 1993. Meyer for the Democratic nomination in a three-way primary decided Sept. 10. 

Education analysts have watched the race for two reasons. The new governor will be under pressure to lead the state鈥檚 General Assembly into acting on a quarter-century of recommendations from task forces and commissions on reforming Delaware鈥檚 Jim Crow-era school funding system. 

Created decades ago to ensure affluent, white communities would continue to get a disproportionate share of education dollars, the finance formula sends more money to districts that already enjoy bigger budgets thanks to higher property taxes. As Delaware鈥檚 population has diversified, the inequities have deepened. Near-unanimity about the scope of the problem has not translated to the political will to boost state funding.

In 2020, Carney settled a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the Delaware NAACP and a coalition called Delawareans for Educational Opportunity, in part by agreeing to commission an American Institutes for Research study to determine exactly how underfunded Delaware鈥檚 schools are. 

Earlier this year, the researchers reported that  would cost $500 million to $1 billion. After the report鈥檚 release, lawmakers created a planning commission to figure out how to raise revenue and right inequities, with an eye toward releasing recommendations in October 2025 for a new funding system to take effect in 2027. Not everyone is convinced the timeline is not simply another instance of kicking the can down the road. 

Now, policy wonks are watching to see whether Meyer鈥檚 long experience in K-12 education will translate to political urgency. The governor-elect started his career as a Teach for America corps member at a Wilmington charter school, where virtually all students were impoverished and the inequitable distribution of resources left teachers to struggle. 

During the campaign, Meyer released a detailed, 18-page education platform that included specific proposals for reforming both the state funding system and county-level taxes.

鈥淔unding cannot change overnight but must increase with urgency,鈥� the plan noted, pledging to 鈥淏etter align our state鈥檚 funding system with the AIR report鈥檚 recommendation of an additional increase of $3,400 to $6,400 per pupil.鈥�

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