Delaware 149th General Assembly (2017-2018) Status: Enacted Bipartisan · 6 D · 1 R cosponsors

SB 85 — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE LAWFUL AUTHORITY OF TEACHERS OVER PUPILS.

Last action — Signed by Governor

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed House
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced March 29, 2018. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 98% · high confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 16 sponsors

    3 primary, 13 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (6 D · 1 R) — cross-party backing.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 3 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

This Act draws attention to the types of discipline used in schools by capturing data about out-of-school suspensions and publishing that data, in an effort to help schools identify areas where the data regarding out-of-school suspensions indicates there is room to reduce such suspensions. This Act is meant to increase transparency, improve overall school climate, resulting in improved student outcomes. The collection and publication of this data will also help the Department of Education and community partners identify opportunities to provide greater supports to schools, students, and their families. According to data provided by the Delaware Department of Education (“DOE”), thousands of Delaware students receive out-of-school suspensions each year for minor infractions, such as being unprepared or late for class, dress code violations, and disrespectful behavior. In 2013, only 2% of out-of-school suspensions were for serious offenses such as weapons, drugs, or serious violence. Out-of-school suspensions do not address the root causes for the misbehavior, and only serve to put the students further behind in class. Furthermore, DOE data shows that, in 2013, African-American students made up only 32% of the student body, but accounted for 62% of out-of-school suspension, and students with disabilities made up 13% of the student body, but accounted for 24% of out-of-school suspensions. Federal discipline guidance, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, instructs schools to commit to regular evaluation of school discipline policies and practices, and monitor progress toward the schools’ climate and discipline goals. The federal process requires schools to collect and publicly report disaggregated student discipline data and solicit feedback from students, staff, families, and community representatives. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute Bill makes the following changes to Senate Bill No. 85: 1. References the existing definition of "disruptive behavior" in Title 14. 2. Includes "disability" as a category for data collection. 3. Extends by 1 year the years stated in the requirements to retain the same time frames. This is necessary because this Act will be enacted in 2018, not 2017 when it was drafted. 4. Clarifies what information is required for reports and provides deadlines for the required plans and reports. 5. Clarifies that schools must develop plans and strategies with stakeholder input. 6. Clarifies content for professional development.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Signed by Governor

  2. Passed By Senate. Votes: 14 YES 6 NO 1 ABSENT

  3. Passed By House. Votes: 23 YES 16 NO 2 ABSENT

  4. Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote

  5. Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill

  6. Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 12 On Its Merits

  7. Assigned to Education Committee in House

  8. Passed By Senate. Votes: 14 YES 5 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT

  9. was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 85

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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3 sponsors · 13 co-sponsors · 46 not signed on · 21 voted No

Sponsors (3)

Co-sponsors (13)

Not signed on (46)

46 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 46 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

SM

Passed 14 Yea · 6 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 9300
Democratic 4001
Republican 1300
Total 14601
% of votes cast 67%29%0%5%
How each member voted (21)
Member Party Vote
Anthony Delcollo — Yea
Brian J. Bushweller — Yea
Bruce C. Ennis — Yea
Catherine Cloutier — Yea
Colin Bonini — Nay
David B. McBride — Yea
Ernesto B Lopez — Yea
F. Gary Simpson — Nay
Gregory F. Lavelle — Nay
Harris B. McDowell — Yea
Margaret Rose Henry — Yea
Robert Marshall — Yea
Bryan Townsend Democratic Yea
David P. Sokola Democratic Yea
John "Jack" Walsh Democratic Yea
Nicole Poore Democratic Not Voting
Stephanie L. Hansen Democratic Yea
Brian Pettyjohn Republican Nay
Bryant L. Richardson Republican Yea
Dave G. Lawson Republican Nay
Gerald W. Hocker Republican Nay

Official roll call →

SM

Passed 23 Yea · 16 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 17701
Democratic 6001
Republican 0900
Total 231602
% of votes cast 56%39%0%5%
How each member voted (41)
Member Party Vote
Andria L. Bennett — Yea
Bryon H. Short — Yea
Charles Potter Jr. — Yea
David Bentz — Yea
Deborah Hudson — Nay
Earl G. Jaques Jr. — Yea
Gerald L. Brady — Yea
Harvey R. Kenton — Nay
Helene M. Keeley — Yea
James Johnson — Yea
John A. Kowalko — Yea
John J. Viola — Yea
John L. Mitchell — Yea
Joseph E. Miro — Nay
Melanie George Smith — Not Voting
Michael Mulrooney — Yea
Michael Ramone — Nay
Paul S. Baumbach — Yea
Peter C. Schwartzkopf — Yea
Quinton Johnson — Yea
Ruth Briggs King — Nay
Sean Matthews — Yea
Stephen Smyk — Nay
Valerie Longhurst — Yea
William R. Outten — Nay
Debra Heffernan Democratic Yea
Edward S. Osienski Democratic Yea
Kimberly Williams Democratic Yea
Sean M. Lynn Democratic Yea
Stephanie T. Bolden Democratic Not Voting
Trey Paradee Democratic Yea
William J. Carson Democratic Yea
Charles S Postles Jr. Republican Nay
Daniel B. Short Republican Nay
David L. Wilson Republican Nay
Jeffrey N. Spiegelman Republican Nay
Kevin S Hensley Republican Nay
Lyndon D. Yearick Republican Nay
Richard G. Collins Republican Nay
Ronald E. Gray Republican Nay
Timothy D. Dukes Republican Nay

Official roll call →

SM

Passed 14 Yea · 5 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 8202
Democratic 5000
Republican 1300
Total 14502
% of votes cast 67%24%0%10%
How each member voted (21)
Member Party Vote
Anthony Delcollo — Yea
Brian J. Bushweller — Yea
Bruce C. Ennis — Yea
Catherine Cloutier — Yea
Colin Bonini — Nay
David B. McBride — Not Voting
Ernesto B Lopez — Yea
F. Gary Simpson — Not Voting
Gregory F. Lavelle — Nay
Harris B. McDowell — Yea
Margaret Rose Henry — Yea
Robert Marshall — Yea
Bryan Townsend Democratic Yea
David P. Sokola Democratic Yea
John "Jack" Walsh Democratic Yea
Nicole Poore Democratic Yea
Stephanie L. Hansen Democratic Yea
Brian Pettyjohn Republican Yea
Bryant L. Richardson Republican Nay
Dave G. Lawson Republican Nay
Gerald W. Hocker Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

civil-rights education
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 85 do?
This Act draws attention to the types of discipline used in schools by capturing data about out-of-school suspensions and publishing that data, in an effort to help schools identify areas where the data regarding out-of-school suspensions indicates there is room to reduce such suspensions. This Act is meant to increase transparency, improve overall school climate, resulting in improved student outcomes. The collection and publication of this data will also help the Department of Education and community partners identify opportunities to provide greater supports to schools, students, and their families. According to data provided by the Delaware Department of Education (“DOE”), thousands of Delaware students receive out-of-school suspensions each year for minor infractions, such as being unprepared or late for class, dress code violations, and disrespectful behavior. In 2013, only 2% of out-of-school suspensions were for serious offenses such as weapons, drugs, or serious violence. Out-of-school suspensions do not address the root causes for the misbehavior, and only serve to put the students further behind in class. Furthermore, DOE data shows that, in 2013, African-American students made up only 32% of the student body, but accounted for 62% of out-of-school suspension, and students with disabilities made up 13% of the student body, but accounted for 24% of out-of-school suspensions. Federal discipline guidance, developed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, instructs schools to commit to regular evaluation of school discipline policies and practices, and monitor progress toward the schools’ climate and discipline goals. The federal process requires schools to collect and publicly report disaggregated student discipline data and solicit feedback from students, staff, families, and community representatives. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. This Substitute Bill makes the following changes to Senate Bill No. 85: 1. References the existing definition of "disruptive behavior" in Title 14. 2. Includes "disability" as a category for data collection. 3. Extends by 1 year the years stated in the requirements to retain the same time frames. This is necessary because this Act will be enacted in 2018, not 2017 when it was drafted. 4. Clarifies what information is required for reports and provides deadlines for the required plans and reports. 5. Clarifies that schools must develop plans and strategies with stakeholder input. 6. Clarifies content for professional development.
Who sponsors SB 85?
SB 85 is sponsored by Kimberly Williams (Democratic), Bryant L. Richardson (Republican), David P. Sokola (Democratic), Stephanie T. Bolden (Democratic), Debra Heffernan (Democratic), Sean M. Lynn (Democratic), Trey Paradee (Democratic), John J. Viola, Helene M. Keeley, Deborah Hudson, David Bentz, Paul S. Baumbach, Anthony Delcollo, Harris B. McDowell, Valerie Longhurst, and Margaret Rose Henry.
What is the current status of SB 85?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced March 29, 2018. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 85?
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