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HB90 • 2025

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SUSSEX COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.

Education Taxes

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: D. Short
Last action: 2025-09-02
Official status: Signed 9/2/25
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official text does not specify an effective date other than noting it was signed on September 2, 2025.

Changes to Tax and Enrollment Rules for Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School

This law removes fixed limits on property tax rates and student enrollment numbers, allowing local officials to set future tax rates while the state Department of Education sets new enrollment capacity.

What This Bill Does

Removes specific dollar amounts in state code that limited how much property tax could be collected for school purposes.
Allows the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District to decide its own future tax rates instead of following a fixed schedule.
Deletes the maximum number of students allowed to enroll at the high school from the current law.
Requires that new enrollment limits be set by a Certificate of Need issued by the Delaware Department of Education.

Who It Names or Affects

The Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District
Property owners in Sussex County who pay taxes for school purposes
Students applying to or enrolled at the vocational-technical high school

Terms To Know

Certificate of Need: A document from the state that determines how many students a specific school is allowed to enroll.
Levy taxes: The official action of setting and collecting money for public use, such as funding schools.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not state the exact date this law becomes effective.
The specific tax rates or enrollment numbers that will be set in the future are unknown until officials make those decisions.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HA 1

1 • D. Short

Passed 4/8/25

Plain English: This amendment deletes all of the original text that would have changed taxes and updates a reference number to match.

Removes lines 1 through 11 from House Bill No. 90, which contained new tax rules for Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School.
Changes the word "Section 2" on line 12 to read "Section 1" so it matches the remaining text.

The amendment removes specific tax provisions, but the exact details of those removed taxes are not included in this document.
This explanation is based only on the provided amendment text and does not include the full original bill content that was deleted.

Bill History

2025-09-02 Delaware General Assembly
Signed by Governor
2025-05-22 Delaware General Assembly
Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT
2025-05-15 Delaware General Assembly
Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits
2025-04-08 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 1 to HB 90 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
2025-04-08 Delaware General Assembly
Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT
2025-04-08 Delaware General Assembly
Assigned to Education Committee in Senate
2025-03-27 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 1 to HB 90 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2025-03-26 Delaware General Assembly
Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 2 Favorable, 12 On Its Merits
2025-03-20 Delaware General Assembly
Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SUSSEX COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.
This bill removes the current specific tax rate and enrollment limitations placed on Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.
Future tax rates shall be determined by the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.
The enrollment capacity limitations shall be established by the Certificate of Need determined by the Delaware Department of Education.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Legislation Document

SPONSOR:

Rep. D. Short & Rep. Dukes & Sen. Pettyjohn

Reps. Hilovsky, Morris; Sens. Hocker, Huxtable, Wilson

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 90

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SUSSEX COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:

Section 1. Amend § 2601, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 2601. Power of county vocational-technical high school districts and county vocational-technical school districts to levy taxes for school purposes [Effective until fulfillment of 80 Del. Laws, c. 19, § 2].

(a) Any county vocational-technical high school district or county vocational-technical center district may, in addition to the amounts appropriated to it by the General Assembly, levy and collect additional taxes for school purposes upon the assessed value of real estate in such district, as determined and fixed for county taxation

purposes.

purposes, however:

(1) The amount to be raised by taxation for current expense must not exceed 26.50 cents on each $100 value of real property in Sussex County for the tax year 2021, 27.50 cents for tax year 2022, 28.50 cents for tax year 2023, 29.50 cents for tax year 2024 and all years thereafter.

Section 2. Amend § 2605, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 2605. Enrollment in the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.

(a) Enrollment for the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District must not exceed 1,300 students in grades 9-12 for school year 2021-2022, 1,350 students for school year 2022-2023, 1,400 students for school year 2023-2024 and 1,450 students for school year 2024-2025 and all years thereafter.

(a)

(b)

For any school year in which the number of applications for admission exceeds

the number of students to be enrolled,

the District’s allowed student enrollment capacity,

the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District shall conduct a random lottery admitting student number “1” and progressing consecutively thereafter until the total number of students to be admitted has been reached.

However, the number of students admitted from any 1 Sussex County school district shall not exceed the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District’s enrollment, outlined in subsection (a) of this section, as a percentage of Sussex County’s total eighth grade enrollment.

(b)

(c)

The Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District may only provide preferences in student admissions to any of the following:

(1) Siblings of students currently enrolled at the school.

(2) Children of persons employed on a permanent basis for at least 30.0 hours per week during the school year by the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.

(c)

(d)

The Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District is prohibited from denying any applicant for enrollment whose GPA falls below the 70th percentile or who has failed any eighth grade course from its lottery for admission, unless the student does not remain academically eligible for promotion according to the standards set by the Department of Education.

(d)

(e)

Except in cases of expulsion subject to the provisions of § 4130 of this title, the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District shall be prohibited from removing a student from its enrollment for disciplinary reasons without the consent of the student’s parents/guardians and the student’s school district of residence.

SYNOPSIS

This bill removes the current specific tax rate and enrollment limitations placed on Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.

Future tax rates shall be determined by the Sussex County Vocational-Technical High School District.

The enrollment capacity limitations shall be established by the Certificate of Need determined by the Delaware Department of Education.