Supporting Our Veterans: The Case for a Dedicated Cabinet-Level Secretary in Delaware

By: Dave Skocik, Guest Contributor

The Delaware Veterans Coalition fully supports the passage of House Substitute1 for House Bill 1,  which establishes a cabinet-level secretary dedicated to veterans-related issues, and facilities within our state. We believe this position is not only necessary but also an important step toward improving the lives of those who have served our state and nation selflessly.

Our veterans and their families have made and continue to make immense sacrifices to protect our freedom and uphold the values we hold dear. They have put their lives on the line, often facing physical and emotional hardships many can only imagine. It is our duty as a grateful nation to ensure they receive the care, support, and recognition they deserve.

Having a dedicated cabinet-level secretary for veterans would serve multiple crucial purposes:

Specialized Attention: This position would ensure that veterans’ issues receive the specialized attention they require. It would allow for a focused and coordinated approach to addressing veterans’ needs, including healthcare, housing, education, employment, and mental health support.

Improved Coordination: A cabinet-level secretary would facilitate better coordination between state agencies and organizations that deal with veterans’ affairs. It would streamline processes and reduce bureaucratic hurdles, making it easier for veterans to access the services they need.

Advocacy and Representation: No one better knows a veteran’s heart than another veteran of multiple conflicts and service. In our view, issues concerning our veterans and their families, including health care, benefits, employment opportunities, and facilities affecting their welfare should be under the purview of a veteran who has experienced military service and even the life and death circumstances they face.

It’s why many other states already have cabinet level positions administered by veterans who have served across the nation and beyond and understand how best to work with their state’s leadership to advocate for veterans at the highest levels of government. They know that those who serve come from families representing a history of service. He or she would have the authority and responsibility to champion veterans’ causes and ensure their voices are heard in policy-making discussions that affect military recruitment at their state and federal levels.

Enhanced Facilities: With a dedicated focus on veterans, the secretary could oversee the improvement and expansion of facilities like the Delaware Veterans Home. This would ensure that those who have faithfully served our state and nation receive the top-notch care and support they’ve earned. He/she could also liaise with existing community non-profit organizations that have created veteran-related shelters and services.

Support for Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs: The Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs established in 1978, is staffed by volunteers appointed by the governor at the recommendation of their respective veterans’ organizations. A dedicated cabinet level position would provide a direct connection with fellow veterans and elected leaders to most effectively utilize our capabilities and resources to best serve veterans and their families.

Resource Allocation: In addition to community leadership, initiative, management expertise, and businesses development opportunities our state’s veterans bring to us, they also bring more than $4 billion of federal resources to our state through educational funding from elementary schools to higher education, medical facilities, compensation, pensions, and disability payments. That money and expertise has created thousands of civilian jobs in our state. The secretary could secure additional federal funding and resources specifically designed for veterans’ programs and initiatives, and ensure they receive adequate financial and political support to meet their needs. Put another way, billions of federal dollars that come to Delaware’s veterans are spent in Delaware.

A cabinet-level secretary position will send a powerful message to our current and future veterans to honor their service and demonstrate our state’s dedication to upholding the values of gratitude, respect, and responsibility toward the men and women who have defended our nation, in addition to retaining highly-trained IT and other experts who have completed their service commitment along with young retirees starting a 2nd career in our state.

We and the many veterans of multiple generations urge our elected officials and Governor Meyer to pass and enact House Substitute1 for House Bill 1, a cabinet-level secretary focused on veterans’ affairs in our state. Our veterans have sacrificed for us, and it is our duty to ensure they have the best possible quality of life upon their return. This is not just a matter of policy; it is a matter of honor and gratitude.

Dave Skocik is President of the Delaware Veterans Coalition. 

Building Back Delaware’s Competitiveness: It Starts With Our Elected Officials

 By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware

Delaware is proud of its role in forming our democracy – “The First State.”  For many years, which was true of Delaware’s social and economic standing in our country as well. Sadly, those days seem to be behind us. We are ranked 47^th among states in the Nation’s Report Card for our ability to educate our students. They are simply not learning in the current structure of public education. They can learn. We know that because many private, charter and parochial schools in Delaware create results that far exceed public school student performance, many times with students who literally live in the same neighborhood as those who are failing.

We rank 38^th in our Economic Outlook, according to the ALEC/Loffler State Economic Competitiveness Index, and 50^th in several categories, including our state liability system costs and our right to choose the terms of our work environment. All the categories measure our economic freedom, that is, the ability of each of us to choose how we spend our own money, by measuring the burdens that taxes, fees and bureaucracy place on our options. We rank in the 40s with regard to our personal and corporate income tax rates, putting us in the top 10 worst in the nation for that tax burden. Our overall ranking would probably be worse, but, ironically, because we have no sales tax, we are ranked No. 1 for that category. Of course, that ignores all the “hidden” excise taxes, gross receipts taxes transfer taxes on real estate, cars, boats, etc. and fees the state and cities impose that exact a tremendous tax burden.  These fees and taxes affect the lowest income citizens the most, because, unlike an income tax that increases as your income increases, they cost the same no matter what your income.

So, what are our state leaders doing to create a more worker-friendly, more competitive work environment for our citizens? Well, the report is not particularly favorable, especially for those low-income families.  Although the proposals include increasing the state income tax burden for higher earning families, they also include increasing fees, such as for state parks, tolls on the highway and increasing taxes on a gallon of gasoline.

What should we be doing to make our state more competitive, to bring good paying jobs to Delaware and to improve our citizens’ economic freedom?

We should eliminate the gross receipts tax, which is a burden for everyone who sells or buys a product in Delaware.  The small business owner who sells anything from a handmade piece of jewelry to a haircut, has to pay a tax on all the money they bring in – before deducting the costs of rent, supplies and employees.  The customer pays more because the owner has to pay that tax. Then, the owner has to pay an income tax on any profit they make. And picture that process back up the supply chain. The business or individual who provides the supplies to the owner of the small business also has to pay that tax on what they sell, then on whatever profit they make, and the business or individual who provides the raw materials for the supplies has to pay tax on the sale of those raw materials and then tax on whatever profit they make,….you get the idea.  Give our economy some freedom – many states have done it – we would not be first here either – eliminate the gross receipts tax!

We should spend our money well.  The previous budget authorized the expenditure of $250,000 to support restriction of cell phones in schools. We don’t know yet exactly how the money was spent, or if it was effective, but the new budget calls for another $500,000 for more of the same. Let’s just have all the kids put their phones on the table in the front of the classroom when they enter, like they do in other schools, and be done with it. Or, if a student has their phone out, confiscate it and call it contraband (like Smyrna does, apparently) and return it after school. And, with student performance so dismal in so many schools (17 of our public schools in Delaware have a student performance at grade level in Math and English of below 10%) let’s make learning a priority in our public schools.

There are many other initiatives Delaware should undertake. We should reduce the bureaucratic and tax burden on starting a business. We should reduce the corporate tax rate to keep and increase the businesses that choose to incorporate here. We should improve our underlying data systems to assure accountability in how the State uses and tracks our tax dollars, creating efficiencies and reducing errors, fraud and waste. Our vision should be hard set on the Number 1, and we should all work hard, and demand our government support our effort to get back to being “The First State.”

Jane Brady serves as Chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as Attorney General of Delaware and as a Judge of the Delaware Superior Court.

Delaware Public Schools Need Practices and Policies That Produce Results

 By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware

Can you Read this? Half the Kids in our schools cannot.

Delaware has always been proud to be first – the First State is our motto after all. But we are far from first in one area and have been losing ground to other states for two decades now in an important criteria – public education.

Delaware is now ranked 47th among all the states for the academic performance of our public-school students (who are not in a charter school, where students do significantly better).  17 of our public schools have fewer than 10% of the students attending who can read and do math at grade level.  The best public schools average only slightly above 50% for student performance.  While not all students can attend the charter schools, all of them deserve better.   

In vast contradiction to the low performance ratings, Delaware spends more, per student, than almost every other state. The cost is nearly one third of our state budget. But we are not getting a return on our “investment”.  Why the quotation marks? Because an investment would be made with an intentional and focused effort to adopt practices and policies that would actually produce results. 

There are good teachers, invested parents and deserving children who are being failed by a system that is bloated and ineffective.  If you view education as a system, then learning should be the product. Our schools are not producing learning. There is one significant reason why – our students cannot read. 

There is an old saying in the field of education – “In grades 1-3 you learn to read, and in grades 4-12 (and beyond), you read to learn.”  Simply put, our students can’t learn if they can’t read. And yet, simply by looking at the numbers, we are graduating students from our high schools who cannot read.  

Some states have figured that out and have adopted practices that have changed the lives and futures of their students.  Mississippi is recognized as a leader in this effort.  For several decades, Mississippi, probably our poorest state, was last or next to last among states in student performance.  The leadership there determined to change that and made teaching students to read a priority. But you might say, we have been “teaching students to read” for more than 50 years.  Yes, but they did something no one had done (at least system wide). They recognized there had to be an objective, and consequences, and passed a state law that if a child did not read at third grade level, they could not be promoted to fourth grade. A transformational change in the culture of education followed. Suddenly, every teacher, every parent and every child had a clear objective – one that could be measured, one that could be met. (For those few students who lacked the ability to achieve the goal, exceptions were made.) Suddenly, overnight, every kid in elementary school had an individual education plan – learn to read at third grade level.  Success or failure was clear and specific, and it worked! In 2024, Mississippi ranked 20 states higher than it had in the past.   

Our state political and education leadership have the information needed to make a difference in our children’s lives, but they are falling short.   In his last budget proposal as Governor, John Carney included $8 million for literacy specialists. These hires were to teach teachers the science of reading, that is, how to teach reading by phonics.  Governor Meyer has included the same expenditure in his budget proposal.  While it would be easy to be critical of the proposed expenditure, because clearly more money is not the answer, simply put, this proposal will not get the job done.  It may teach teachers to teach reading, but the difference between “teaching kids to read” and kids learning to read, as proven in Mississippi, is a clear and specific goal, an objective embraced by the school, the students, the community.   

Delaware can end this shameful failure to prepare our children for a successful future.  We need only to adopt the practice Mississippi, Louisiana and other states have shown work. The General Assembly should pass a law that requires our third graders to read at third grade level or not pass on to fourth grade, and the Governor should support and sign it.  

Jane Brady serves as Chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as Attorney General of Delaware and as a Judge of the Delaware Superior Court.

DELAWARE’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS NOT CONSUMER FRIENDLY

 By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware

Recently Delaware legislators have been saying things like “we need to hold the power companies accountable to their customers “, or “we need to hold hospitals accountable for the cost to their customers and the state “or “we need to hold teachers accountable for these students’ poor performance.” What we really need is to hold the legislature accountable.

Delaware’s public policies are costing Delawareans lots of money.  While the legislature is looking for someone else to blame, they need to look in the mirror.

Let’s take energy costs. Electricity costs have increased substantially in Delaware and particularly recently. Some have argued it was the cold weather in January, others that it was the electric grid operators’ fault, but the reality is our energy costs could be much cheaper.  Several issues increased cost and reduced supply.  First, we required the power companies to source huge and growing portions of electric power from renewable resources. Because Delaware does not generate very much power at all, including from renewable resources, the power companies had to go to other states and import the power. We lose part of the power in the course of the distance we transmit, and of course, the cost is more expensive than if we were to generate it ourselves. Then, the State shut down the power plant in Millsboro (which produced about as clean energy as any coal powered plant could) even earlier than planned and before they replaced, from other sources, the electricity that we lost from the shutdown. Finally, the electric car mandate is going to continue to create demand – it is scheduled to hit us hard in the next year or two.  Legislators also pushed for offshore wind, which costs between six and twelve times more, depending on who you talk to, than the cost of generating electricity on land. The bottom line is that our energy policy is not sound, rooted in common sense or consumer friendly.

Now let’s look at education. We spend, per pupil, in the top ten of all states. Education is nearly one third of the entire state budget. Yet we are ranked in the bottom three states based on student performance. And, while the issue did not arise during Covid, according to the Education Recovery Scorecard, a report of a collaboration between Harvard and Stanford universities, between 2019 and 2024, Delaware was 49th in the country in recovering Math performance by students to 2019 levels and 47th in the nation in Reading. Further, although between 2022 and 2024 we saw some recovery of math competency, reading scores did not reflect any recovery at all.  The former governor put $8 million into the budget for literacy specialists, and the current governor retained that expenditure, but we have increased spending for years, with decreasing student performance.  There are states that have changed lives by changing their policies with regard to reading. In Mississippi, which was 49th or 50th (until we replaced them), they passed a law that you had to read at third grade level to go to fourth grade. They are now 21st in the nation because their children can read. You can’t learn if you can’t read.  The answer is not more money (we spend as much per student as Massachusetts, which ranks first in the country) – the answer is changing what we are doing, how we define our goals, setting specific objectives. There are good teachers, good parents, and good kids out there who are not getting the support they need to achieve the results that they’re aiming for. The legislature could change the world for those students.  Implement the Mississippi plan.

As related above, the legislature has said they want to hold utility companies accountable to their customers by restricting their ability to raise rates. This is much like what they are now doing with hospital facilities. They have established a politically appointed governing authority to review hospital budgets, and to exercise authority to direct or curtail spending as that body determines.  While the legislators claim that they want medical healthcare in Delaware to be accessible, available and affordable, current policies achieve none of those objectives.  What will accomplish it is more competition. The legislature should remove the certificate of need 9now called the Certificate of Public Need). You may not realize it but there is actually a law in Delaware that says that you can’t add a new capability, such as a new technology, or build a new facility for healthcare in Delaware without permission of a group of people, again, politically appointed, most of whom are already in the business of providing healthcare. Study after study has shown that the accessibility to healthcare is restricted, and the cost of healthcare is increased, in states where this law is in effect.

The bottom line is this – the General Assembly is not serving Delaware citizens well. They are mandating that entities, other than themselves, exercise good judgment, prudence, and care in how they conduct their business, but have not shown the same restraint and responsibility and how they conduct theirs. We should adopt accountable objectives for teaching kids to read. You can’t learn if you can’t read. We should allow for competition in healthcare to expand the number of doctors and services that are available to Delaware citizens at a lower cost. And we should remove the mandates and restrictions that are causing our energy prices to be so high. The state has a ravenous appetite. We need to trim the legislature’s desire to spend our money without accountability and without regard to the real impact it has on real people living and doing business in Delaware.

Jane Brady serves as Chair of A Better Delaware. She previously served as Attorney General of Delaware and as a Judge of the Delaware Superior Court.