---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE LAWFUL AUTHORITY OF TEACHERS OVER PUPILS."
description: "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."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "SB 85"
citation: "Delaware SB 85 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kimberly Williams", "Margaret Rose Henry", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 9
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-03-29"
last_action: "2018-07-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f804f09d-a380-4014-8055-36ada732eddd"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26457"
source_hash: "47f2c24347133151841c938b746f8d1539ba732313c8ea7d9d683022cbb70308"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware SB 85 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE LAWFUL AUTHORITY OF TEACHERS OVER PUPILS.

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.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=26457&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SS1)

## Votes

- SM — **14–6** (pass) · upper
- SM — **23–16** (pass) · lower
- SM — **14–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
- Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Anthony Delcollo — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)
- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
- Harris B. McDowell — cosponsor (person)
- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
- John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-03-29** was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 85 `introduction`
- **2018-03-29** Passed By Senate. Votes: 14 YES 5 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-04-12** Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-05-02** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 12 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2018-05-30** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-06-05** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-05** Passed By House. Votes: 23 YES 16 NO 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-06-07** Passed By Senate. Votes: 14 YES 6 NO 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2018-07-11** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f804f09d-a380-4014-8055-36ada732eddd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).