DOVER — School leaders representing districts across Delaware, as well as groups like Chief School Officers Association of Delaware, the Delaware Association of School Business Officers, and the Delaware State Education Association, appeared before the Joint Special Committees investigating the recent property reassessment on Monday morning.
Presenters discussed the impact of reassessment on funding for public education, noting the disparities between districts based on average household income.
School tax bills vary by district, even if homes have the same assessed values. For instance, a home with a $350k assessed value in the Delmar School District would see a tax bill just shy of $1,150, while a home with the same value in the Cape Henlopen School District would be issued a tax bill of nearly $588.
Tax rates are proposed based on estimated needs, excluding current expenses, and are approved through referenda in each school district. Each district’s Board of Education then approves the rates and submits them to the appropriate county by the second Thursday in July. The county then calculates and issues tax bills, with payment due by September 30. Once collected, the funds are deposited into the respective school districts.
School financial leaders testified that these differences are a product of unequal taxation ability and broken equalization — not mismanagement on behalf of the districts.
“In addition to the different variations that individual properties saw in the changes of their assessed value, there’s another implication that impacts someone’s individual tax bill: and that is the value of a penny,” said Monet Smith, Chief Operating Officer of the Delmar School District. “The smaller a district’s assessed value, the more it costs each property owner to raise funds in that district.”
Delaware State Education Association’s Taylor Hawk agreed, saying, “Our school districts derive about 30 percent of their funding from local property taxes. And by requiring our schools to beg taxpayers for every local dollar they need [through referenda] to keep pace with inflation, population growth and student need, this system has forced poorer communities to overtax themselves just to provide something close to the same level of service as wealthier districts.”
Ahead of the 2026 legislative session, district leaders recommended that lawmakers address these equalization issues in tandem with reforms proposed by the Public Education Funding Commission.
“Reassessment is a complicated issue with far-reaching effects on every community in every corner of our state. The information we’ve gathered – from school districts and education officials who joined us today, and our presenters over the past few months – will help to guide us as we take measured and deliberate action,” said Rep. Kerri Evelyn Harris. “Going into this upcoming legislative session, our overarching goal is to ensure any solution we put forward supports students, families, small businesses, and the broader community while addressing both immediate and long-term needs.”
Additional recommendations include — but are not limited to — conducting more frequent reassessments to ensure accuracy and equity; aligning reassessment timelines across all three counties; providing consistent notifications to taxpayers about the reassessment process; completing appeals before new property values are implemented; and validating data to ensure the process is carried out fairly and consistently statewide.
“There has been a tremendous amount of confusion from the New Castle County reassessment. Along the way, small businesses and residential taxpayers have been pitted against one another. The reality is, the split tax rate that we passed through House Bill 242 earlier this year was only a stop-gap measure for the 2025-2026 tax year. State legislators in Dover remain committed to providing critical relief and transparency, both immediately and moving forward. At the end of the day, everyone in the community benefits when our schools are properly funded and our students have strong opportunities,” said Sen. Bryan Townsend. “We want to lower the cost of housing. We want to lower the cost of child care. As we reconvene in Dover for the 2026 legislative session, we will be introducing a variety of legislative solutions designed to bring down costs for homeowners, renters, and small business owners alike, while ensuring fairness and equity into the way we fund our schools.”
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