republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-454.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED SERVICES."
description: "This Act revises the Code to be consistent with federal law. The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) requires states to make a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available to all children with disabilities “between the ages of 3 and 21, inclusive.” 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A). The term “inclusive” requires states to extend eligibility until a student’s 22nd birthday. The IDEA allows states to limit the age of eligibility for FAPE to students between the ages of 18 through 21 only to the extent state law, practice, or court order limits the provision of public education to all children within those age ranges. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B). In Delaware, state law and practice provide public education to adults without age limitation. Delaware is one of the few states that has developed a public adult high school, the James H. Groves Adult High School, accommodating those needing an alternative to a regular day-school program. As such, federal law requires Delaware to extend eligibility for children with disabilities through their 22nd birthday. Current statute and regulation extend eligibility to the end of the school year in which a child with a disability turns 21, this Act proposes to keep the established exit point to minimize service interruptions and only change the age from the end of the school year in which a child turns 21 to the end of the school year in which a child turns 22."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 454"
citation: "Delaware HB 454 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Debra Heffernan", "Kimberly Williams", "Krista Griffith", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Nicole Poore", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2022-06-02"
last_action: "2022-07-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ccd619d8-0d9a-4805-8b21-0ea4bde12c24"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109603"
source_hash: "a036696aa7a392db44adc4304623693d8d3536569eba86632ddd9ba665010e84"
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 454 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED SERVICES.

This Act revises the Code to be consistent with federal law. The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) requires states to make a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available to all children with disabilities “between the ages of 3 and 21, inclusive.” 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(A). The term “inclusive” requires states to extend eligibility until a student’s 22nd birthday. The IDEA allows states to limit the age of eligibility for FAPE to students between the ages of 18 through 21 only to the extent state law, practice, or court order limits the provision of public education to all children within those age ranges. 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(1)(B). In Delaware, state law and practice provide public education to adults without age limitation. Delaware is one of the few states that has developed a public adult high school, the James H. Groves Adult High School, accommodating those needing an alternative to a regular day-school program. As such, federal law requires Delaware to extend eligibility for children with disabilities through their 22nd birthday. Current statute and regulation extend eligibility to the end of the school year in which a child with a disability turns 21, this Act proposes to keep the established exit point to minimize service interruptions and only change the age from the end of the school year in which a child turns 21 to the end of the school year in which a child turns 22.

## 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=109603&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB454)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **40–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-06-02** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-08** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 4 Favorable, 8 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-09** 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** 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`
- **2022-06-28** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2022-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2022-07-22** 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/ccd619d8-0d9a-4805-8b21-0ea4bde12c24`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).