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.