Get Involved: Sussex to discuss SB23; Middletown grant request, more

Why Should Delaware Care? Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.

Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.

• Sussex to discuss future under SB23

• Middletown project seeks taxpayer grant

• School funding commission to meet

• Senate to consider judges, board appointments

• Commission to discuss rural healthcare, measles outbreak

Sussex to discuss SB23 future

More than a month after pausing any consideration of subdivision plans while debating the impact of newly passed state legislation, Sussex County officials will meet Monday to discuss how they will proceed.

Senate Bill 23, also known as the Housing for Every Delawarean Act, requires municipalities to adopt provisions aimed at increasing their affordable housing stock, including foregoing public hearings for some projects. The law has generated an outsized reaction in Sussex County compared to its northern counterparts due to the sheer number of new subdivision plans in the pipeline there.

During a special joint County Council and Planning & Zoning Commission workshop meeting on Monday, officials are scheduled to discuss “land use development, the Delaware Department of Transportation, and implementation of Senate Bill 23 and House Bill 450,” referring to another state initiative around land planning.

📍 The joint Sussex County will start at 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, at the Sussex County Public Safety Complex, located at 21911 Rudder Lane in Georgetown. For more details, click here. There does not appear to be a virtual attendance option.

Middletown project seeks taxpayer grant

The Council on Development Finance, a state government board that considers applications for taxpayer-backed grants for economic development projects, will meet Monday morning to hear from a developer looking at a Middletown project.

Information on the company, identified only as SJRC LLC in the meeting notice, is scant ahead of the meeting, but it is seeking $1.9 million for a Level II Site Readiness Fund grant, which would fund site preparation for a future project.

If approved, it would be tied for the third largest grant given out by the Meyer administration since he took office in January 2025.

📍 The Council on Development Finance will meet at 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29, at the Delaware Public Archives, located at 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Dover. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

School funding commission to meet

The Public Education Funding Commission — tasked with recommending reforms to the state’s 85-year-old school funding system — will meet on Monday for the first time since Gov. Matt Meyer signed two bills into law that lay the groundwork for Delaware to implement a new school funding system advanced out of a Senate committee.

One of the bills, sponsored by State Sen. Laura Sturgeon (D-Brandywine Hundred), enabled the Delaware Department of Education to begin implementing the hybrid school funding model. It also included a mandate that no school receive less money under the model than it would have under the previous funding model.

Sturgeon, who serves as chair of the PEFC, also introduced Senate Bill 303, which establishes it as a permanent body to continue studying and evaluating the state’s funding formula in the years to come.

On Monday, the task force will discuss the first phase of implementation updates. The group will also discuss student growth updates and a “support draft framework” for school performance.

The meeting comes a few days after Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Marten unveiled a draft framework that consists of five tiers, ranging in support and accountability measures for district schools and charter schools. The universal expectation is for schools to be in Tier 1, which has the lowest level of intervention.

While additional supports are introduced at Tiers 2 and 3, state intervention begins at Tier 4 and is carried into Tier 5.

If none of the state-implemented supports work, the school would be placed in Tier 5 — resulting in receivership, where the Delaware Department of Education would take over operation of a school and appoint leadership, until conditions improved.

📍 The Public Education Funding Commission will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29. The meeting is virtual-only For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

Senate to consider judges, board appointments

The State Senate will reconvene Tuesday for a special session to consider a slate of 18 gubernatorial appointments as well as Delaware’s new surgeon general, Dr. Neil Hockstein.

Among those to be considered are seven new judges, including corporate attorney Kyle Lachmund who has been nominated for an all-important vice chancellor seat on the Court of Chancery. The other 11 appointments are largely to administrative boards of commissions, but include three on the Delaware State Board of Elections, and one to the University of Delaware Board of Trustees.

Prior to the special session, all 18 appointees and Hockstein will testify during the Senate Executive Committee meeting, giving lawmakers the opportunity to discuss their backgrounds and roles.

📍 The Senate Executive Committee will meet at 12 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave. in Dover. The full Senate is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

Commission to discuss rural healthcare, measles outbreak

The Delaware Health Care Commission will meet on Thursday to provide updates on the state’s measles outbreak, as well as discuss a multi-million-dollar federal grant meant to bolster rural health.

Earlier this summer, Delaware declared an outbreak of the measles after multiple residents in Kent County tested positive for the virus.

Additionally, the commission of state health leaders will discuss a federal program in which Delaware received $157 million to improve its rural health access.

📍 The commission will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Herman M. Holloway Sr. Health and Social Services Campus, located at 1901 N. DuPont Highway in New Castle. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.

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