What will our youth be learning in our schools?

September 10, 2026

State Senator Bryant Richardson

Students recently returned to the classroom. Of particular concern is what will our elementary students be learning?

Will they be able to go to the school library to be inspired by the greatness of heroes from the past or find books with content you could not read out loud at school board meetings? More on that later.

I mentioned before that as a member of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee (JLOC), I have expressed my concern about curriculum selection.

We know the importance of providing a quality education to advance a student’s opportunities for success.

We also know that companies looking to locate in our state will include as part of their research the quality and reputation of our schools.

Public education funding makes up a third of Delaware’s state operating budget, totaling 36% of operating appropriations. The total this past year was $2.16 billion.

Delaware spends about $21,500 per student on public education.

In a book titled “The Learning of Liberty” by Lorraine Smith Pangle and Thomas L. Pangle, is the following introduction:

“The classic account of the reasons for the instabilities of republican government focused on education as the heart of the problem.

“Republics, it was argued, require an extraordinary degree of public-spiritedness, self-restraint, and practical wisdom in their citizens.

“To form such virtues of heart and mind, an especially intense and carefully supervised moral education of the young is essential.”

Is a moral education being prioritized in our public schools?

Our educational system and curriculum should be focused on the highest quality of education for all Delaware children.

I requested that the JLOC call for a full review and report of how curriculum is decided and how this affects the ability of teachers to concentrate on the basics of education.

What are the rules now for selecting curriculum? Who decides? How do bills passed by the General Assembly add to or subtract from the main purpose of a meaningful educational experience for our youth?

Is it possible to develop legislation that will help provide better outcomes for students through a more specific curriculum structure?

While I had hoped the JLOC would take on this project as part of its annual review process, the committee, by a vote of 8 yes and two absent, decided instead to have the Division of Legislative Services do this research and report back to the JLOC.

This is a good start and hopefully will lead to discussion on how curriculum selection can be improved.

We hear about “going back to the basics.” Is this the answer?

In part I think it might be.

At least make sure the importance of teaching the “basics” is not crowded out by demands for pet educational courses recommended by legislators.

What about school libraries?

House Bill 119, overseeing libraries, passed this year in the General

Assembly, mostly along party lines.

HB 119 states that library material should not be “...excluded, removed, or prohibited from a catalogue because of the origin, background, or views of those who created the material.”

It further states, “...material should not be excluded, removed, or prohibited from a library because of partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval.”

My hope is local school boards are not allowing what parents may find objectional into the K-12 libraries to begin with.

Regrettably, school board members may find they are standing in the way of organized efforts to force them to accept materials they find to be in poor taste.

Being inclusionary does not mean you have to abandon all community standards.