Christina schools out of Wilmington? Lawmakers may consider it

Such a move would strip about 1,600 city students from the embattled district, whose boundaries sit mostly around Newark, but also contain an noncontiguous island that centers around downtown Wilmington and its adjacent neighborhoods.  

The Christina School District has for decades been one of four districts that shared the enrollment of Wilmington’s more than 11,000 public school students – a system that was developed in the 1980s in response to court-ordered desegregation. The others are the Brandywine, Colonial, and Red Clay Consolidated school districts. Together they span an area that stretches from the Pennsylvania border down to the C&D Canal.

Recently, Christina school board member Shannon Troncoso joined the calls, saying she understands how long commutes can take a toll on students and families. Troncoso, who moved to Delaware when her two children were entering high school, said the distance between their Wilmington home and potential schools led her to enrolling her children in schools outside of the district.

“It makes it really prohibitive for parents to even be involved,” Troncoso said.

The toll of commuting on students was also one factor that the Redding Consortium – a body made up of education advocates and lawmakers – used when deciding to study three possible redistricting options for Wilmington students. 

Two of those three options involve eliminating the Christina School District’s presence in Wilmington. 

In 2019, lawmakers created the Redding Consortium to monitor test scores and other achievement metrics of city students, and then to develop proposals to create new school district boundaries for the city and northern New Castle County.

Redding Consortium co-chair State Sen. Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman (D-Wilmington) said that if her group ultimately recommends eliminating Christina schools from Wilmington, it will be a result of a rigorous process and not “about bashing Christina.” 

The Christina School District has been a target of criticism by others over the past year as it struggled with continuous acrimony, including a lawsuit filed by a fired superintendent, criticism of a board member who has been living in Pakistan, and an often strained relationship among district board members.  

“The redistricting project is not about handing out demerits to some districts and awards to others,” Lockman said.

What happens if Wilmington students leave Christina?

One of the Redding Consortium’s options proposes a “Metropolitan Wilmington District” that would combine the Brandywine and Red Clay Consolidated school districts, as well as all of the students in Wilmington into one district. 

The other option would divide Wilmington students between the Brandywine and Red Clay Consolidated school districts. 

But Brandywine Superintendent Lisa Lawson said community members have expressed concerns during public meetings that dividing Wilmington into only two school districts would increase the tax burden on the largely suburban residents in those communities.  She has also noted that students in Wilmington require more resources than its surrounding suburbs, on average, because the city has a higher rate of people living in poverty. 

Lawson also said that those tax concerns coincide with New Castle County’s recent property reassessment, which caused outrage among residents.

“You are now asking for the needs in the city of Wilmington, in Christina’s portion, being paid for by two tax bases instead of four,” Lawson said.

If Christina loses its footprint in the city, it would also lose its downtown Wilmington tax base.

That section includes several government buildings that are tax-exempt, such as the federal courthouse on King Street and the Carvel State Office Building on French Street. 

Christina school board member Doug Manley said the district could actually be better off financially by losing its portion of Wilmington because of the amount of untaxable property there. 

School board president Monica Moriak also said downtown buildings do not provide enough to pay for city schools – particularly after the recent reassessment lowered many of their tax bills.

Still, downtown Wilmington does include many high-wealth properties that are taxable, such as the Hotel du Pont, which saw a property tax increase of about $1.7 million earlier this year.

School closures? 

The Christina School District has seen a decline in enrollment within the last 30 years, largely as a result of school choice programs that allow students to attend charter schools or those in other districts. 

In 1997, the district had about 20,000 students, as reported by The News Journal. Today, it has just over 14,000 students, making it the state’s third-largest school district. 

While some have questioned if Christina would need to close one or more of its high schools if Wilmington students were pulled from the district, Manley believes that would not be necessary. 

Christina School Board member Doug Manley. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY ETHAN GRANDIN

He said his district has struggled to convince state education officials to allow it to hold referendums to pay for school renovations. And, because of that, conditions are worsening in various school buildings.

Manley said the Christina School District may need excess space in the future if facility deterioration continues and students need to be relocated.  

Last year, the Christina School District submitted six project requests to the Delaware Department of Education. But state officials ultimately did not allow the school district to hold a referendum to pay for any of those projects.

Asked about whether losing Wilmington would cause Christina to close schools, Moriak said she does not anticipate schools closing because there already are several Wilmington students within the Christina boundaries who prefer to choice into high schools in the neighboring Red Clay or Brandywine school districts. 

Also asked about potential school closures, Lockman said low school enrollment is something that “can and will be taken in consideration as part of the planning.” 

More decisions to be made

Both Manley and Troncoso said they are concerned that a redistricting could disrupt the pay scales and general stability for employees at Christina schools within Wilmington, such as at the Maurice Pritchett Academy. 

Manley said teachers and other staff working in Maurice Pritchett are hired to work for the Christina School District, not the elementary school specifically.

“They may have taken that job because Christina School District has a certain set of policies, or a certain pay, a certain stability, a certain leadership that they like,” he said. 

Under the proposed options, Maurice Pritchett could become part of the Red Clay, Brandywine, or “Metropolitan Wilmington District.”

The Redding Consortium is expected to vote on a final recommendation in December and will submit its plan to Delaware’s State Board of Education in January. 

The State Board of Education and Delaware’s Controller General’s office will review the plan before it is sent along to the legislature.

State Sen. Tizzy Lockman serves as co-chair of the Redding Consortium. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS

If the General Assembly approves the Redding Consortium’s plan and Gov. Matt Meyer signs it into law, the implementation of the redistricting would take three to five years. 

Lockman said the consortium’s subcommittees will be tasked with looking at the fiscal impacts of the implementation and decisions of whether to start with younger or older students. She said there’s “an urgency to this reform,” noting that the question of where Wilmington students should go to school has been asked for decades. 

“We’re very eager for action that is swift, but at the same time, you have to make sure that you don’t move so quickly that you are making missteps,” Lockman said.