In the workforce housing debate, one of the largest concerns has been whether the Appoquinimink School District will be able to keep up with the projected growth. However, it may also be the point on which all sides agree there is a problem.
    New Castle County Councilmember Bill Powers (D–6th district) and representatives from County Executive Chris Coons’ office stated they want to change how school capacity is calculated in the Delaware Code.
    “This is a major problem that I did not know was there,” Powers said.
    Workforce housing is a piece of legislation the county council passed in February aimed to provide housing for moderate- to low-income families. The legislation offers density and other bonuses for a development to builders who wish to participate.
    At a September 2008 meeting on workforce housing, Appoquinimink Board of Education President Ed Czerwinski said the school board had been left out of the process.
    “Nobody’s asked us how increased density is going to impact us,” he said.
    Nicole Majeski, chief of staff for New Castle County, said the problem lies in H.B. 383, a piece of legislation that sets up voluntary school assessment and prohibits New Castle County from denying a development based on school capacity.
    “Our hands are tied with this,” she said.
    Originally, the county had specified in the Unified Development Code that a developer would need “certification from the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Education and the superintendent of the appropriate individual school district that the school district has adequate capacity for the proposed development.”
    However, this section of the UDC was overturned in 1999 when the General Assembly passed H.B. 383. The new law stated the developer did not need to get separate certification of capacity from the school district superintendent, but DDOE still needed to consult with the school district superintendent on whether the school district had capacity.
    If the school district does not have capacity, the law states the developer is still allowed to build so long as he or she pays a Voluntary School Assessment to the state, which the DDOE calculates.
    The assessment is calculated by dwelling units in the development and the formula is laid out in Title 14 of the Delaware code. The cost per unit equals the average cost of one child for an elementary, middle and high school, multiplied by the percent required by the percent the state is required to pay for the school district and multiplied by .5, which is the average number of school-aged children in a residential unit.
    Powers said this formula is the major problem of the plan. While the average of school-aged children in a residential unit may be .5 throughout the state, the Appoquinimink average is greater than 1. There is also no mechanism in the law by which the “.5” number may increase due to time or population growth.
    He said the assessment, which usually comes out of impact fees, usually does not make up enough of the costs for the schools. The sewer fee is usually higher than the school fee. In addition, school taxes have doubled from 74 cents in 1996 for each $100 of house value to $1.50 now.
    Different school districts are seeing different levels of growth, as well. Powers said Appoquinimink’s numbers are rising while the Brandywine School District’s numbers are falling.
    “One bill doesn’t fit all,” he said.
    Powers said another problem was a part of Title 22 that states “any [county] regulations or ordinances linking to tying residential development to school capacity or otherwise restricting residential development in the absence of school capacity … are herby preempted and of no force and effect.”
    “I thought what happened [in determining capacity] went to Dover and became better than it was,” Powers said. “At the time, I should have looked at it better.”
    Powers, who along with Councilmember Bill Bell (D–12th district) requested a stay on the workforce housing ordinance that is still going through the legislative process, said as someone whose district encompasses the Appoquinimink, Christina, Colonial and Smyrna school districts, he wants to solve this problem as it affects all capacity matters, not just those related to workforce housing.
    “I think everything can be worked out,” he said.
    Powers said he hopes to change the formula when the General Assembly goes back into session in January.
    “It’s going to be an effort with the county and the state and the school district all coming together,” Majeski said.
    John Marunicci of the Department of Education said, “DDOE stands ready to assist the county in any way we can.”