Jack Markell on Education

	Jack Markell on Education Delaware Democratic Governor

Support IT education in schools

We're putting a special focus on our growing IT sector. Through our computer science pathway and other high level courses, we've increased the number of high school students studying computer programming from about 80 to 560 in just the last two years. Our goal is 1,000 students by September. Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Delaware legislature , Jan 21, 2016

Make university scholarships less restrictive

Nearly 20,000 Delawareans have received full scholarships toward degrees at Delaware Tech, UD, and Delaware State. But we can do better. Some students who need these scholarships the most can't access them, despite meeting academic requirements, because current rules mandate that they attend school full-time and without interruption. I ask the General Assembly to make these scholarships more universal by expanding their benefits to part-time students and those who must take a break from their studies. Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Delaware legislature , Jan 21, 2016

Increase teacher compensation

We have a responsibility to ensure that the best and brightest enter teaching, and get the support they need once they arrive in the classroom. That's why my budget will include funding to raise starting salaries to be more competitive with our neighbors. And we will pilot opportunities for educators to earn more for taking on leadership responsibilities, without leaving the classroom for administrative positions. Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Delaware legislature , Jan 21, 2016

Common Core Standards including world language immersion

We made the difficult choice to raise our academic standards for the world our children will live in. Teachers across the state are transitioning to the Common Core Standards, a set of uniform, higher standards that will better prepare our students for the global economy. As we move to these higher standards, fewer of our students will meet them initially. It is not an easy change, but it is one we must make, and our students will rise to the challenge.

Thanks to another investment, 10,000 Delaware students will participate in a world language immersion program over the next decade. 340 students started the program this year. For example, at McIlvane Early Learning Center in Magnolia, 100 kindergartners spend half their school day learning science, social studies and math in Chinese. One of the Chinese teachers there had a goal for her students to be able to count to 100 by the end of the school year; they accomplished that by November.

Source: 2013 Del. State of the State speech , Jan 17, 2013

State provided public schools deserve improvement

Our commitment to improving K-12 education is clear and constant--because it gives children a much better chance to graduate ready to succeed in the work world. Our commitment to early childhood education is becoming more clear as well-- because children need every opportunity to show up, ready to learn, ready to succeed, and ready to make the most of the great public schools our state provides-- all critical components to keep our state, moving forward. Source: 2011 gubernatorial press release, "Early Education" , Oct 14, 2011

Improve charter schools, teachers, and accountability

Efforts to improve education continued with legislation to reform the charter school system, better enable schools to attract the best teachers, improve the state's ability to measure the impact of education initiatives, and ensure that services for children with disabilities are more equitably and effectively delivered.

These reforms will help us improve accountability and react more quickly and effectively when a school is in trouble.

Source: 2011 gubernatorial press release, "Legislative Session" , Jul 1, 2011

Ensure we have the best possible public schools

[We will work] with Delaware's excellent educators to ensure we have the best possible public schools. Employers want to know that their children will have a great place to learn and that our schools will graduate young people ready to thrive in the work world. Our students today are graduating into a job environment far different from what their parents faced. They are competing with graduates from around the world for jobs and we are competing with governments to help make those opportunities available Source: 2011 Delaware State of the State Address , Jan 20, 2011

Evaluate whether charter schools are becoming segregated

Delaware students and families can choose to attend any public school in the country, making our system one of the only comprehensive public school choice programs in the country. We are ranked 3rd in the country in the percentage of children who attend charter schools. After over a decade of operation for both programs, I will ensure the following evaluations are made:

Are the programs working as intended or not?
Are school choice and charter schools helping or hurting the ability of existing public school districts to offer quality programs?
Are the Charter schools and public schools becoming "segregated?"
How do we deal with construction financing for charter schools?

We need to seriously review how well charter schools are inter-district transfers are serving the needs of all Delaware families. And we need parents to understand their options for utilizing charter schools--a deficit identified in Opportunity Knocks. Source: 2008 Gubernatorial campaign website, markell.org, "Issues" , Nov 4, 2008

Click here for definitions & background information on Education. Click here for a summary of all issue stances of Jack Markell. Click here for a Wikipedia profile of Jack Markell. Click here for a Ballotpedia profile of Jack Markell. Click here for VoteMatch responses by Jack Markell. Click here for issue positions of other DE politicians. Click here for DE primary archives. Click here for DE secondary archives.
*Other governors on Education:*			*Jack Markell on other issues:*
[Title7]	*Gubernatorial Debates 2023:* KY: Incumbent Andy Beshear(D) vs.State A.G. Daniel Cameron(R) vs.Ambassador Kelly Craft(R) vs.State Auditor Mike Harmon(R) LA: Incumbent John Bel Edwards(D,term-limited) vs.Jeff Landry(R) vs.Shawn Wilson(D) vs.John Schroder(R) vs.Sharon Hewitt(R) MS: Incumbent Tate Reeves(R) vs.Bill Waller(R,withdrew) vs.Brandon Presley(D) *Gubernatorial Debates 2024:* DE: Gov. John Carney (D, term-limited); Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long (D) vs. Matt Meyer (D) IN: Gov. Eric Holcomb (R, term-limited); Sen. Mike Braun (R) vs. Suzanne Crouch (R) vs. Jennifer McCormick (D) MO: Gov. Mike Parson (R, term-limited): Jay Ashcroft (R) vs. Bill Eigel (R) vs. Mike Kehoe (R) vs. Crystal Quade (D) MT: Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) vs. Tanner Smith (R) vs. Ryan Busse (D)	*Gubernatorial Debates 2024 (continued):* NC: Gov. Roy Cooper (D, term-limited); Dale Folwell (R) vs. Michael Morgan (D) vs. Mark Robinson (R) vs. Josh Stein (D) vs. Andy Wells (R) ND: Gov. Doug Burgum (R) vs. State Rep. Rick Becker (R) NH: Gov. Chris Sununu (R, retiring) vs. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) vs. Joyce Craig (D) vs. Chuck Morse (R) vs. Cinde Warmington (D) UT: Gov. Spencer Cox (R) vs. State Rep. Phil Lyman (R) VT: Gov. Phil Scott (R) unopposed WA: Gov. Jay Inslee (D, retiring); Hilary Franz (D, withdrew) vs. State Sen. Mark Mullet (D) vs. County Chair Semi Bird (R) vs. WA Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) WV: Gov. Jim Justice (R, term-limited); vs. WV State Auditor JB McCuskey (R, withdrew) vs. WV Secretary of State Mac Warner (R) vs. State Del. Moore Capito (R) vs. WV Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) vs. Huntington Mayor Steve Williams (D)	Abortion Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Local Issues Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty [Title9]