Construction Provides a Good Career Job

By: Edward J. Capodanno, Guest Contributor

It has become painfully obvious that the world has more diverse needs than colleges are intended to meet and the opportunities to have a fulfilling, exciting and diverse career are many and varied.  We are proud to say a career in construction is one of the smartest and most rewarding career choices a person can make.  For those interested in a career in construction, they should know they will start making a good income on day one avoiding student loan debt. Over the course of their career, they can be in the field, in an office, working as part of a team or supervising. The industry provides a direct pathway to personal prosperity and the ability to earn a high-quality living.

Nationally the average age of a construction worker is 47 and for every five people leaving the industry, just one is entering. At this rate, and over the next three years, the shortage of new workers could stall Delaware’s economic growth, which is now restarting.

As an improving economy – supported by a renewed focus on thoughtful economic development – creates new opportunities in Delaware, the need for vocationally trained and certified, skilled workers become even more important. The Delaware Department of Labor has identified our industry as the third fastest growing job growth industry over the next 5 years.

There are several opportunities to attract more individuals to enter the construction industry. First is an apprenticeship program, which is a structured training program that combines on-the-job experience with related classroom instruction to prepare individuals for skilled careers. It’s a way to earn a wage while learning a trade, leading to a nationally recognized credential upon completion that is recognized across the country, demonstrating mastery of the trade. Apprenticeships can lead to higher-paying jobs and further career advancement opportunities.

The impediment preventing the increase in the number of apprentices is that the Department of Labor requires ratios of apprentices to journeyperson. The current ratios are preventing companies from hiring apprentices due to either not having enough journeypersons to meet the ratio or they are currently at the ratio number and can’t hire anyone because it puts them over the limit and brings fines from the Department of Labor.  In such cases, they must wait till current apprentice’s graduate before they can add additional ones.  Reducing the ratio to 1 apprenticeship to 1 journeyperson will allow contractors to hire young entry level tradespeople that will fulfill their workforce needs while at the same time providing those individuals with a well-paying job with a solid career path that will provide for them and their family.

Finally, the other opportunity to increase our pool of potential workers is to create a career pathway in every traditional high school so that students are exposed to the construction trades. The shop classes that all of us were familiar with were replaced in the 1990’s by other career opportunities and this has hampered our industry’s ability to attract students. They are never exposed to the trades and not given the opportunity to see the career path they could have. Imagine allowing students in the traditional high schools who don’t have college aspirations, the ability to learn about the construction trades and the impact it would have on our industries ability to find workers. It would be a win win situation for all as young men and women would enter our industry thus reducing our workforce shortage and affording them a career path that would sustain them for life. We need the political will and foresight to make this happen and help the 3rd fastest growth industry with the opportunity to promote its career path to all high school students throughout the First State.

The construction industry is committed to developing the construction workforce of tomorrow.  And remember, construction is one of the few industries where the vast majority of the work must be performed on-site and cannot be offshored.  So, as your student, friend or family member explores careers that interest them, let them know that through a career in construction they can make a good living while performing valuable work. You won’t be disappointed.

Edward J. Capodanno, recently retired after 32 years as president of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Delaware. Before coming to ABC Delaware, he was the vice president of Marketing and Rehabilitation for Goodwill Industries of Delaware from 1988-1993.

Should Teachers Be Allowed to Choose Their Evaluations?

By Tanya Hettler, Ph.D., Guest Contributor

A bill sponsored by Sen. Laura Sturgeon, Senate Bill 165, titled “An Act to Amend Title 14 of the Delaware Code Relating to Student Improvement Component,” has just passed in the Delaware General Assembly.

The bill requires the Delaware Department of Education to pilot a new method of teacher evaluation that allows teachers to choose how they are evaluated and considers factors that may negatively affect student performance, such as student absences, noncompliance, or a lack of parental involvement. In practice, this could allow poor test scores to be excluded entirely from a teacher’s evaluation-regardless of classroom instruction-raising concerns about accountability and transparency.

As is often the case, this bill is misleadingly framed as a “student improvement” measure when it is actually about making teacher evaluations easier and thus will not lead to student improvement. Instead of overlooking student absences and behavior problems, shouldn’t schools and teachers be working to decrease these kinds of disruptive behaviors and increase parental involvement?

Over the past four years, Delaware lawmakers have passed four Science of Reading (SoR) bills. The Science of Reading (SoR) involves direct and explicit instruction in phonics along with four other essentials that have been proven effective in teaching literacy.

The first of these bills, SB 4, passed in 2021, yet does not require SoR to be fully implemented until the 2027-2028 school year. This delay means another six years of students who have not learned to read. This is unacceptable.

States that hold students, teachers and families accountable for literacy have far better literacy scores than Delaware, which continues to obscure poor literacy results and is attempting to reduce accountability even further through SB 165.

While the rest of the country works effectively to implement SoR in their schools so students can learn to read, Delaware seems more focused on decreasing accountability and unconcerned with being among the bottom five states in the country in academic performance, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Delaware’s public school students are suffering because their teachers and schools are not being held accountable for teaching them basic reading and math. Only 41% of Delaware students can read at grade level and only 31% can do math at grade level. Delaware teachers should not have even less accountability as proposed in SB 165. In what other profession are employees allowed to choose their evaluations? None. SB 165 focuses on what makes life easier for adults in our schools rather than what is best for the children.

Delaware must immediately require teachers to be trained in the SoR and require that it be implemented to teach literacy in all districts when school starts again in September 2025. There are districts in the state that have not even begun SoR professional learning. Some superintendents do not even seem aware that a law requires SoR to be taught or that SoR is entirely backed by scientific and classroom evidence.

When it comes to evaluating teachers, we should continue to use the statewide Smarter Balanced assessment (or choose another statewide assessment) to compare student performance at the beginning and end of each grade.

Additionally, schools should be held accountable for implementing effective policies to reduce absenteeism and for improving communication with families, such as those implemented in West Seaford Elementary School, rather than ignoring these issues.

Delaware’s legislature should also reverse SB 85, a bill about student discipline, which has led to significant increases in student misbehavior and general chaos in Delaware schools, as reported in a survey conducted by the Delaware State Education Association.

SB 165 will be a disaster for Delaware’s students. The last thing that our schools need is another excuse for poor academic performance. Instead, Delaware must enforce its Science of Reading laws so that students can learn to read, and schools must implement effective strategies to reduce absenteeism and behavioral problems.

Tanya Hettler, Ph.D., is head of the Center for Education Policy at the Caesar Rodney Institute.

Delaware’s Progressive Policies Create An Economic Mirage*

By: Charlie Copeland, Guest Contributor

For two decades, Delaware has been a laboratory for progressive economic policy. From expanded social programs to aggressive minimum wage hikes, from increased business regulations to generous unemployment benefits, our state has faithfully implemented the liberal playbook. The results are now clear: these well-intentioned policies have created an economic mirage that appears successful on paper, while systematically excluding tens of thousands of Delawareans from productive economic participation and ultimately leading to an income tax increase.

Delaware politicians celebrate the state’s 3.6% unemployment rate and rising wages as evidence that progressive policies work. But the real story lies in what they don’t mention: our labor force participation rate has collapsed from 65.7% in 2005 to just 59.0% today. If Delaware had maintained its 2005 participation levels, our unemployment rate would actually be 10.3%.

This represents roughly 45,000 to 50,000 working-age Delawareans who have simply stopped looking for work. They haven’t disappeared—they’ve been absorbed into an expanding web of government dependency programs that progressive policymakers have steadily enlarged over the past two decades.

The wage growth story reveals the fundamental flaw in progressive economic thinking. Yes, employed workers saw 47% wage increases from 2014 to 2025, but according to the Federal Reserve, real per capita income for all Delawareans grew by only 1.4% annually, well below historical standards. Progressive policies created artificial wage floors and benefits that priced many workers out of the job market entirely, while those who remained employed benefited from an increasingly exclusive economy.

This is the expected result of progressive economic policies. When the government makes it costly to hire workers through mandates, regulations, and payroll taxes, businesses tend to hire fewer employees while paying their existing staff more. When social programs offer attractive alternatives to working, sensible people opt not to work. The outcome is exactly what we observe in Delaware: higher wages for fewer workers and a growing number of residents dependent on government support. The increase in Delawareans relying on assistance is reflected in state spending, which has risen by an average of 7.15% since 2018—nearly double the inflation rate of 3.73% during the same period.

In 2005, Delaware still maintained some of its traditional pro-business orientation. Today, after years of progressive governance, we’ve become another high-cost, high-regulation state that drives out working family jobs while creating lucrative opportunities for college-educated professionals who can navigate the regulatory maze.

The policy mechanisms are clear. Generous unemployment benefits reduce incentives to find work quickly. Expansive disability programs provide alternatives to employment. High minimum wages price out entry-level workers. Progressive housing policies have made Delaware’s housing market expensive, forcing working families to choose between unaffordable rents and government housing assistance.

A few targeted policy reforms can start reversing this damage. For example, Delaware could forgive 1% of the state’s share of the real estate transfer tax for individual home buyers—not LLCs or business entities—purchasing property in low-income census blocks. This would help working families build wealth through homeownership in areas where economic stability is most needed, while discouraging reliance on government assistance.

Charlie Copeland is the board chair of Associates International. He sits on the Board of Governor’s at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and serves as the chair of the Center for Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Caesar Rodney Institute.

*This article was first published in the Delaware Business Times on July 2, 2025, and is reprinted here with permission from the author.

Delaware’s Expanding Budget and the Need for Fiscal Responsibility

 By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware

The members of the General Assembly have recently interjected the State into areas where it dared not go previously.  They voted to override county zoning decisions and municipal restrictions on certain business activities. They took over the oversight of hospital budgets, complaining about the costs the state incurs for healthcare and yet, at the same time, expanded the medical services that were covered by the state insurance plan.

Repeatedly, governors and legislators have voted to increase spending on education. In fact, at an incredible pace. Yet, despite the fact that we have enacted continued and consistent increases in spending, they have led only to a consistent and persistent decline in student performance.  Perhaps you remember the term “direct and inverse correlation” from school? We are in the top ten in terms of spending and the bottom three or four in student performance. The state should try programs that have been proven to work to elevate student performance and achievement in other states, with as challenging a history as we have established in the past 10 years. Mandate that a child must read at third grade level in order to be promoted to fourth grade.  Allow parents to more easily see how their child’s school ranks and the proficiency of the students attending by requiring the State Department of Education to make it very clear where to find it on the Department’s website. Give parents the authority to place their child in the school of their choice.

Recently the General Assembly approved a stopgap measure, a one-time allocation, to help families struggling to pay the utility bills. Well, not all of them – estimates are the funds will help about 2% of those who are currently struggling. The state’s insistence on shutting down Delaware’s capacity to generate power and to promote costly and less reliable alternative energy sources is driving, and keeping, prices higher.

Our state government could adopt policies that lower energy costs, improve student performance and allow more families to succeed without government handouts that are literally too little and too late. The legislature could eliminate laws that limit competition in healthcare, which increases costs and restricts access to quality health care.  State government is costing more than it should and all of Delaware would benefit from cost-effective and common-sense policies.

Since its inception, A Better Delaware has advocated that Delaware establish the position of Inspector General. We applaud the General Assembly for finally (after it was first proposed more than a decade ago) passing a law that establishes the Office of Inspector General. That office is designed to help identify fraud, waste, and mismanagement in state government, the agencies, the legislature and all aspects of government action.  The person who is selected must be independent, guided by only the best interest of Delawareans, and not be held hostage by political views of anyone in the General Assembly or the Governor’s Office.

Perhaps the work of the Inspector General will lead to savings, and recommendations about improvements and policies that will help save taxpayers money. Perhaps, the work of that office will bring a sense of responsibility to a state government that consistently spends our money without truly determining how, accompanied with common sense policies, it can best work to enhance the lives of Delawareans. We have high hopes and expectations of what can be – our objective everyday – A Better 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.

Impact of Government Policies on Delaware Utility Costs

 By: Jane Brady, Chair, A Better Delaware

Sometimes politicians just don’t get that the tax revenue that they spend on government projects is our money. Recently, the budget for the next fiscal year was passed in the General Assembly. One of the provisions would direct $6.5 million to help pay the utility bills or provide energy efficient upgrades to residents who are not able to pay their energy bills.  Governor Meyer touted the benefit to those individuals while reportedly proclaiming that it would help those individuals “without shifting any of the cost burden onto customers “.

That $6.5 million came from somewhere, and that somewhere is from us. $6.5 million is $6.50 for every Individual who lives in Delaware, not all of whom pay taxes, but most of whom consume public utility services. While we at A Better Delaware think it is appropriate to help those who truly cannot keep the heat or air conditioning on and suffer from health or other conditions that make the situation dangerous, it is not accurate or fair to say that it’s not costing “customers “any money.

Many of us complained in January about the high cost of our utility bills. If you think you’re paying a lot for electricity, you are right, but the cost is not entirely reflected in your bill.

Legislation that has passed over the last two sessions, in particular, has increased the cost of construction of single-family and multi-family residential homes and the cost of the construction of commercial buildings, spent your tax dollars to support individuals who buy all electric or hybrid vehicles, and mandates the purchase of a certain number of electric school buses each year.

The construction of new residential homes now requires that electric vehicle charging infrastructure be included in that construction, and the General Assembly has given city and county government the authority to enforce those requirements. The cost of construction obviously is higher, which means the cost of buying a new home or condominium is higher, and the construction of an apartment building is more costly, so the rent is higher. You are paying for that infrastructure whether you have an electric vehicle or not.

The construction of commercial buildings now must include installation of a roof that is able to support solar energy infrastructure. That means that the cost of the construction of those buildings goes up, the companies either building or renting those buildings will have to pay more and the cost will be shared by you as a customer. You are paying for that infrastructure.

The cost of an all-electric or hybrid vehicle is in general, much more expensive than a gas-powered vehicle, so in a competitive market, the lower priced vehicle is favored, especially for those in a lower economic situation.  In order to provide incentives to consumers to purchase those vehicles, the government provides subsidies to those consumers. Purely at the state level (because there have been federal subsidies as well), a purchaser of an all-electric vehicle is entitled to up to $2500 toward the cost as an incentive and the purchaser of a hybrid vehicle is entitled to up to $1000. That money is coming from the state coffers. You are paying for that rebate.

We at A Better Delaware have written extensively about the intrusion of government into private businesses. It is a trend that continued in this session of the General Assembly. Legislation was passed this session that would cap or limit the amount of money that a Delmarva Power could spend on capital expenses – that is improvement of their buildings, infrastructure, transmission, trucks, and all of the attendant capital expenses required for them to do their job well. The bill further provides greater oversight in order, according to the General Assembly to “challenge unnecessary rate hikes “.

Government does not know how to run a business. Indeed, if government were a business, it would have a very poor credit rating and be unable to raise the money in a capital market that it takes from us as taxpayers to do the things it has chosen to do. For government to intrude into the future planning of infrastructure needs of a business and the capital required to both maintain and improve that infrastructure is poorly considered. Indeed, it will create an administrative quagmire and will stifle innovation.

Finally, looking forward, the General Assembly has expressed a clear preference for offshore wind power generation, and voted to override a county decision regarding zoning that would affect a particular project because they disagreed with the impact it would have on that preference.  That particular project won’t bring any energy to Delaware as a practical matter, but focusing on offshore wind as a source of energy is fraught with hazard. Offshore wind can be as much as four times as expensive as energy from coal or natural gas. It is intermittent and unreliable and must have backup sources to avoid brownouts, blackouts and breakdowns in service.  More choices and many diverse options for energy without the detrimental impact that offshore wind has on the environment are available, including nuclear and natural gas.

There are a lot of reasons why your utility bills are higher, and not all of them are evident in your bill. Delaware’s public policies are costing each one of us a great deal every month. Our leadership will choose the policies they prefer because majority does rule, but they should not pretend that the cost of those policies does not exist.  Governor Meyer, you can’t spend $6.5 million of State money and claim that it will not cost the customers anything. We are all customers of Delaware‘s government, and we are paying that bill.

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.