republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-86.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING."
description: "This Act provides increased funding for kindergarten through third grade students identified as eligible for basic special education services. Currently, basic special education is provided for students in fourth through twelfth grade who are identified as eligible for basic special education and related services; there is no additional unit funding for students in kindergarten through third grade who may be eligible for basic special education services. The Act adds a designation of “K-3 Basic Special Education (basic)” and over three years reduces the number of students comprising a unit from the current 16.2 to 8.4."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "151"
identifier: "HB 86"
citation: "Delaware HB 86 (151)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bryan Townsend", "David P. Sokola", "Debra Heffernan", "Edward S. Osienski", "Eric Morrison", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "John A. Kowalko", "John L. Mitchell", "Kimberly Williams", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Madinah Wilson-Anton", "Michael F. Smith", "Michael Ramone", "Nicole Poore", "Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "S. Elizabeth Lockman", "Sean M. Lynn", "Sean Matthews", "Sherae'a Moore", "Stephanie T. Bolden", "Trey Paradee", "Valerie Longhurst", "William Bush", "William J. Carson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-27"
last_action: "2021-07-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/630a1e42-9020-43c1-9b01-f839a999a3ad"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=48341"
source_hash: "672f5af0ed7d4e6929e397154cdafc422f169ebb01128f7c9d1d33ab3a720bd5"
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 86 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING.

This Act provides increased funding for kindergarten through third grade students identified as eligible for basic special education services. Currently, basic special education is provided for students in fourth through twelfth grade who are identified as eligible for basic special education and related services; there is no additional unit funding for students in kindergarten through third grade who may be eligible for basic special education services. The Act adds a designation of “K-3 Basic Special Education (basic)” and over three years reduces the number of students comprising a unit from the current 16.2 to 8.4.

## 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=48341&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB86)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **40–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- John A. Kowalko — primary (person)
- John L. Mitchell — primary (person)
- Kimberly Williams — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Madinah Wilson-Anton — primary (person)
- Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
- Michael Ramone — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- S. Elizabeth Lockman — primary (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — primary (person)
- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
- Sherae'a Moore — primary (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)
- William J. Carson — primary (person)
- Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Kendra Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- Krista Griffith — cosponsor (person)
- Kyle Evans Gay — cosponsor (person)
- Larry Lambert — cosponsor (person)
- Marie Pinkney — cosponsor (person)
- Melissa Minor-Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Sarah McBride — cosponsor (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — cosponsor (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-27** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-17** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 7 Favorable, 7 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-25** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-04** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 4 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-04** Suspension of Rules in House
- **2021-06-10** Passed By House. Votes: 40 YES 1 NO `passage`
- **2021-06-10** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-15** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-15** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-16** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 2 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-22** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2021-07-30** 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/630a1e42-9020-43c1-9b01-f839a999a3ad`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).