---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS."
description: "This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware middle schools. The unit is phased in over 3 years, beginning in FY2023, to arrive at a final ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades 6-8 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades 6-8 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in elementary schools."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 300"
citation: "Delaware HB 300 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Marie Pinkney", "Melissa Minor-Brown", "Michael F. Smith", "Sherae'a Moore", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-02-11"
last_action: "2022-08-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d9e276cf-05d8-4ebf-9818-d698241c0f66"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=79147"
source_hash: "bc067607233031479f9b23c42beda1307068f87d85e6e55932ee8acdff7844d3"
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 HB 300 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware middle schools. The unit is phased in over 3 years, beginning in FY2023, to arrive at a final ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades 6-8 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades 6-8 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in elementary schools.

## 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=79147&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB300)
2. **HA 1 to HB 300** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=129776&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **20–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Melissa Minor-Brown — primary (person)
- Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
- Sherae'a Moore — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- Bryan Townsend — cosponsor (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
- Darius J. Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
- Eric Morrison — cosponsor (person)
- Ernesto B. Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald W. Hocker — cosponsor (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — cosponsor (person)
- John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
- Kendra Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
- Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
- Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
- Madinah Wilson-Anton — cosponsor (person)
- Michael Ramone — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
- Sarah McBride — cosponsor (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
- Timothy D. Dukes — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)
- William Bush — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-11** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-16** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 12 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-19** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-14** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-06-16** Amendment HA 1 to HB 300 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2022-06-16** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-06-16** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-22** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-06-22** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 2 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2022-08-03** 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/d9e276cf-05d8-4ebf-9818-d698241c0f66`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).