These are some of the questions that Luann has been asked (via survey, e-mail, etc.) along with her answers.

What evidence-based policies would you support addressing the effects of AI-driven data center growth on electricity costs and grid reliability for Delaware's residents?

PJM's capacity market makes this concrete: prices have jumped roughly 11-fold in two years, clearing at the cap of $329.17/MW-day for 2026/27, with data centers driving nearly 40–45% of recent capacity costs region-wide. PJM has also missed its own reliability target two years running. Delaware households shouldn't pay more for a grid that's becoming less dependable.

I know this industry firsthand — my father spent 35 years as an electrical engineer with PECO, and I spent 15 years supporting data centers as an engineer with HP (Hewlett-Packard). Those were classic facilities that employed real people, not today's hyperscale AI data centers, which draw enormous power and resources with a fraction of the local jobs.

I supported this year's law requiring data centers to supply their own power, meet renewable requirements, and pay separate rates so costs aren't shifted to ratepayers. I'll push further: mandatory grid-impact and reliability review before large loads interconnect, and Delaware pressing PJM for reforms that protect both ratepayers and reliability.

What evidence-based policies would you support to help Delaware's coastal communities respond to increased tidal flooding risk?

Delaware is the lowest-lying state in the country, and I've seen what that means firsthand. In 2015, my family owned a home in Dagsboro when Hurricane Joaquin's tidal surge flooded roads across Sussex County so badly we couldn't leave our community for days. Our home was spared, but many of our neighbors' weren't. That's not a projection to me — I lived it.

The data backs up what I saw: tidal flooding has increased 260% since 2000 in parts of Delaware, and over 9,500 properties are already at risk. I'd support fully and consistently funding Delaware's Open Space Program, which curbs development in vulnerable areas and lets coastal ecosystems migrate inland. I'll also push to finish updating coastal construction regulations to reflect current flood risk, and expand tools like DNREC's I-ADAPT so local governments actually have the resources to plan, not just the mandate.

What evidence-based policies would you support to address substance use among young people in Delaware and ensure drug usage decline?

That drop in perceived risk — from 50% to 26% — tracks almost exactly with Delaware's move to decriminalize in 2015 and legalize recreational marijuana in 2023. Legalization for adults was the right call, but we can't pretend normalization doesn't reach kids too, and the evidence says prevention has to evolve with it, not just keep repeating old messaging.

I'd support sustained, full funding for DSAMH's evidence-based prevention framework rather than the block-grant funding swings it's faced, strict limits on cannabis marketing and packaging that could appeal to minors, and continued retail compliance checks like those already used for tobacco and vape sales to anyone under 21. And since youth substance use and mental health are deeply linked — nearly one in five Delaware youth has experienced a major depressive episode — I'd tie prevention funding directly to expanding school-based mental health support, not just standalone drug education.

Will you require ICE to verify a valid judicial warrant before Delaware law enforcement assists or cooperates with ICE?

Yes. Local law enforcement should be protecting Delaware communities, not doing the federal government's immigration enforcement for it — especially without judicial oversight. Requiring a valid warrant protects due process and keeps trust between immigrant communities and local police, who rely on that trust to keep everyone safe.

Will you prevent Delaware agencies from sharing information with ICE/DHS without a valid judicial warrant, court order, or subpoena?

Yes. Delawareans' personal information shouldn't be handed over to federal immigration enforcement without real legal process behind it. This is a natural extension of requiring a judicial warrant before cooperation — the same standard should apply to sharing data, not just physical assistance.

Will you create a private right of action for civil rights violations by law enforcement, including federal agents?

Yes. When the federal government won't hold its own agents accountable, victims of civil rights violations shouldn't be left with no recourse. Delaware can and should give people a real path to justice in state court when their constitutional rights are violated — accountability shouldn't depend on Washington's willingness to investigate itself.

Will you limit incarceration for technical violations of probation?

Yes. Locking someone up for missing an appointment or a technical slip doesn't make Delaware safer — it disrupts jobs, housing, and families over conduct that isn't a new crime. Incarceration should be reserved for public safety risks, not used as a default response to technical noncompliance.

Will you guarantee public access to police body-worn camera footage?

Yes. Body cameras only deliver on their promise of accountability if the public can actually see the footage, not just when officials decide it's convenient to release it. Transparency shouldn't be optional — Delawareans deserve a real right of access, with reasonable safeguards for ongoing investigations and privacy.

Will you grant police accountability boards subpoena and investigatory power?

Yes. Real accountability can't rely on police investigating police. Accountability boards need actual subpoena and investigatory power to do their job — otherwise they're oversight in name only, and Delawareans have no independent check on misconduct.

Will you create a uniform, public use of force policy for Delaware police agencies?

Yes. A patchwork of hidden, agency-by-agency policies leaves both the public and officers guessing about the rules — that's neither fair nor safe. A single, public use-of-force standard, shaped with community input, brings consistency and accountability across the state.

Will you support HB 180's second leg?

Yes. HB 180 amends the constitution to restore voting rights once no longer imprisoned, and it must be passed again by the 154th General Assembly.  People who've done their time deserve a voice in their community, not permanent exile from it. I support HB 180 and will vote to pass the second leg once elected.

Will you support SB 3's second leg?

Yes. SB 3 amends the constitution to guarantee absentee/mail-in ballot access, and it must be passed again by the 154th General Assembly.  Every Delawarean deserves a voice, and we should always be working to encourage more people to participate, not put up barriers. SB 3 offers the flexibility voters have shown they want and need — I'll vote to pass the second leg.

Will you support SB 2's second leg?

Yes. SB 2 amends the constitution to guarantee early in-person voting, and it must be passed again by the 154th General Assembly. Delawareans made their preference clear at the ballot box — 40% turned out early because it's secure, convenient, and it works. As someone who's often volunteering for candidates on election day, away from my own polling location, I've relied on early voting myself. I'll vote to guarantee that option stays available with the second leg of SB 2.

Will you support a constitutional amendment for same-day voter registration?

Yes. Delaware's unreasonably early registration deadline locks out eligible voters — especially in areas like District 23, home to UD, where students often move in just weeks before our primary. Same-day registration removes that barrier and lets more Delawareans exercise their right to vote.

Will you support HB 430's second leg?

Yes. HB 430 amends the constitution to affirm that only natural persons can vote, and it must be passed again by the 154th General Assembly. Voting is a right for people, not corporate entities — I honestly can't believe this needs to be spelled out in our constitution, but I'll gladly vote to make it explicit with the second leg of HB 430.

Will you support increased regulation of school resource officers/constables to reduce disciplinary disparities?

Yes. These disparities aren't accidental, and the research is clear that SROs don't make schools safer while widening the gap for Black students. Through my work on education equity in Christina School District, I've seen how discipline policy shapes whether kids stay engaged in school or get pushed out of it. If any officer presence is needed, I'd rather see schools rely on constables employed directly by the district — who can build real, ongoing relationships with students — over police-based SROs, alongside stronger oversight and regulation to close these disparities.

What new actions should the state take in response to the AIR report's $600 million–$1.2 billion education funding shortfall?

The AIR report confirms what I've seen firsthand through my education equity work in Christina School District and throughout the state: Delaware's public education funding model went unchanged for over 80 years and was wildly ineffective at meeting the growing needs of disadvantaged students. This year's passage of SB 302 and SB 303 — establishing a new hybrid funding formula and making the Public Education Funding Commission permanent — is a real step, but it's still a fraction of the $600 million–$1.2 billion actually needed. I'll fight to phase in that additional funding over time, with clear accountability so every new dollar is tied to measurable outcomes for disadvantaged students — not just a bigger number on paper.

Will you amend the Delaware constitution to guarantee the right to marry regardless of gender?

Yes. Marriage equality shouldn't depend on the whims of a future Supreme Court or Congress — Delaware should guarantee this right in our own constitution so no family here ever has to worry about it being taken away. SB 100 already passed its first leg this year, and I'll proudly vote for the second leg to finish the job and enshrine it in our constitution for good.

What are the most important challenges facing our state, and how do you propose to address them?

Delaware families are losing ground — on opportunity, security, and community. That's what neighbors tell me, again and again, as I knock on doors across District 23.

Costs are outpacing paychecks. I'll fight for affordable housing, universal pre-K, and lower healthcare costs.

Our schools need real equity and funding that works — I'll push this year's formula reform through and hold it accountable for results.

As rights are rolled back federally, Delaware must codify them at home: reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ protections, voting rights, and gun safety laws I helped pass with Moms Demand Action.

And I'll fight unchecked AI data centers — my engineering background means I know their real costs, and I'll push for guardrails that protect our communities, not this industry.

Homelessness in Delaware more than doubled in 2022. What legislation would you propose to reduce the number of unhoused in Delaware?

Homelessness in Delaware doubled between 2020 and 2022, and we still don't have enough homes people can afford — only 41 affordable rentals exist for every 100 extremely low-income households.

I'll fight to fully fund eviction diversion and legal aid, so families facing eviction aren't outmatched in court. I'll push to finish the Homeless Bill of Rights that stalled in the legislature. And I'll fight for sustained, dedicated funding to build deeply affordable housing — sited with real access to transit, jobs, and services, not isolated from the infrastructure people need to actually get back on their feet.

Housing alone isn't enough if it's disconnected from the necessities that make stability possible.

How likely are you to support gun legislation such as safe storage or banning assault weapons?

I don't have to guess where I stand — I helped write this record. As a responsible gun owner and longtime Statewide Lead with Moms Demand Action, I fought to pass Delaware's assault weapons ban, our safe storage law, and permit-to-purchase for handguns. These laws are on the books, they've survived court challenges, and they're working.

I'll defend every one of them against efforts to weaken or repeal them, including concealed carry reciprocity. And I'll push to fully fund enforcement, close remaining loopholes, and invest in community violence intervention. This isn't a new issue for me — I've sat across the table from legislators to get it done, and I'm not backing down.

What, if anything, should our state do over the long term to ensure quality healthcare at an affordable cost for all?

This hits home for me. I battled a life-threatening autoimmune disease for eight years, through many rounds of chemotherapy, at times unable to access the care I needed.

Delaware has some of the highest per-capita healthcare costs in the country, and for over a decade we've missed our own spending benchmark. This year's Senate Bill 1 is a real step — redirecting spending toward primary care, reining in hospital pricing, and restricting private equity ownership of hospitals. I'll fight to see it enforced.

Long term, Delaware needs to hold spending to the benchmark we set, expand primary care, and protect Delawareans from federal Medicaid cuts and rising premiums.

Please describe your assessment of Delaware's public education system. What are your top three education priorities?

My engagement with Delaware public education began more than a decade ago when I recognized the unique challenges facing Christina School District — challenges amplified by a fundamentally broken funding model that left high-need districts chronically under-resourced. I became deeply involved through the League of Women Voters Advocacy Corps' Education Portfolio and the Friends of Christina School District, working alongside educators, parents, and community leaders fighting for equitable funding and better outcomes for every student.

Delaware's public education system has dedicated, talented educators working within a structure that has historically underserved our highest-need students. Our funding model — until very recently — was built on an antiquated unit-based system that distributed resources with little regard for student need, ZIP code, or district wealth. The result has been persistent and measurable inequity: students in lower-wealth districts like Christina receiving fewer resources than peers in wealthier suburban districts, despite often having greater needs. Teacher shortages, aging infrastructure, inadequate mental health support, and the growing complexity of student needs — from multilingual learners to students with disabilities to those experiencing trauma and housing instability — have placed enormous pressure on a system that was not designed to meet these demands.

The good news is that Delaware has recently taken historic steps in the right direction. The passage of SB 302 and SB 303 in the recently ended General Assembly represents the most significant modernization of our education funding system in generations. But legislation is only as good as its implementation and funding, and the work ahead is substantial.

My commitment to public education is also a household one. My husband Doug Manley serves on the Christina School Board, which means the challenges and opportunities facing Delaware's public schools are not just policy priorities in our home — they are dinner table conversations. That daily connection to the realities of school governance and district leadership informs my perspective in ways that no amount of advocacy alone could.

But my connection to Delaware's students runs deeper than policy advocacy. For 20 years I have served as a pet therapy team member with PAWS For People, bringing therapeutic animal visits to classrooms serving students with emotional, literacy, and special needs. As a Board Member, Children's Programs Volunteer, Site Coordinator, and therapy team member, I have watched struggling readers find confidence reading aloud to a therapy dog, and students with significant emotional challenges find calm and connection through animal-assisted interaction. During Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long's tenure, I worked actively with her office to establish dedicated pet therapy teams in every Delaware public school — a program that deserves to be revisited and finally realized.

My work coaching and mentoring students through the University of Delaware Ballroom Dance Team has also given me a window into young people's development outside the traditional classroom — building confidence, discipline, leadership, and community in students who might not have found those experiences elsewhere.

My husband Doug and I have also partnered with local teachers to bring dance experiences into their classrooms — because arts education is not a luxury. It is a gateway to creativity, discipline, confidence, and joy that every student deserves access to regardless of their zip code or their school's budget.

And as a statewide leader with Moms Demand Action — an organization born from the tragedy of Sandy Hook — I have spent years advocating for gun violence prevention and safer schools. No child should have to practice hiding from a shooter. No educator should have to make peace with the possibility of dying at work. Safe schools are the prerequisite for everything else we want to achieve inside them.

Public schools are the cornerstone of our communities. They are the foundation on which Delaware's economic and social success is built, and they must be funded, supported, and respected accordingly. That belief has guided a decade of advocacy, and it will guide every vote I cast in Legislative Hall.

My top three education priorities are:

1. Full implementation and adequate funding of the PEFC hybrid formula, ensuring every student receives resources based on their needs regardless of their zip code.

2. Completing the PECC compensation roadmap for teachers, specialists, and Education Support Professionals, so Delaware can attract and retain the talented educators our students deserve.

3. Addressing the nonacademic barriers — poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, mental health, and physical safety — that prevent too many Delaware students from reaching their full potential in the classroom.

What are your views on the Commission's recommendations, and if elected, what specific actions would you take to ensure the hybrid formula is fully implemented and funded?

I am an unequivocal supporter of the PEFC hybrid funding formula and the historic work of Senator Laura Sturgeon — who has endorsed my campaign — and the Commission members who spent years building consensus around this reform. SB 302 and SB 303 represent the most significant modernization of Delaware's school funding system in more than eight decades, and I am committed to seeing full implementation through.

Christina School District is not an abstraction to me — it is where my education advocacy began and where I saw firsthand what an inequitable funding model actually looks like in practice. Underfunded classrooms, deferred building maintenance, teachers spending their own money on supplies, and students in high-need schools receiving measurably fewer resources than their peers in wealthier districts. That experience made the case for weighted, needs-based funding more powerfully than any policy brief ever could, and it is why I am so personally committed to seeing the PEFC hybrid formula fully implemented and funded.

If elected, I will fight to ensure the approximately $200 million in additional annual investment needed for full implementation is treated as a non-negotiable priority in the state budget process — not an aspiration to be deferred when revenues tighten. I will also hold the PEFC's ongoing review role accountable, ensuring the formula evolves as student needs change and data improves.

What is your position on local revenue reform, including equalization measures and increased local funding flexibility, and how would you ensure that students in lower-wealth districts have access to the resources they need regardless of where they live?

Delaware's reliance on local property taxes to supplement education funding creates deep and persistent inequities between wealthy and lower-wealth districts. A student's educational opportunity should not be determined by the property values in their neighborhood — that is a principle I have advocated for throughout my decade-plus of education engagement, and one I have seen play out in painful detail through my work with Christina School District.

I support equalization measures that direct additional state resources to lower-wealth districts, and I am actively engaged with the conversation around more structural solutions. Christina School District CFO Bob Vacca has been developing a compelling proposal for a county-wide pooled funding mechanism — one that would aggregate all local property tax revenue at the county level and distribute it equitably across districts based on need rather than geography or demographics. This is exactly the kind of paradigm-shifting thinking Delaware needs. It eliminates the structural inequity baked into the current system and ensures that a child's funding does not depend on their neighborhood's property values.

There are legitimate questions to work through — particularly around how future referenda would function in a pooled model — but given that no district has conducted a truly transformative referendum in years, those are solvable problems. The political will to solve them is what has been missing, and I intend to help provide it.

I will also work to ensure that the ongoing property reassessment process in New Castle County does not harm already under-resourced districts, and I support increased local funding flexibility that empowers districts to direct resources where students need them most. Phase 2 of the PEFC's work, which will revisit the equalization formula, must be fully resourced and pursued without delay.

Do you support fully funding and implementing the final phase of the PECC recommendations? If elected, what specific actions would you take to ensure Delaware remains competitive in attracting and retaining teachers and specialists?

Yes, I fully support completing the final phase of the PECC recommendations and reaching the $60,000 base salary target for teachers by FY 2028. Delaware cannot afford to lose talented educators to Pennsylvania, Maryland, or New Jersey because we failed to follow through on commitments we made. Recruitment and retention are inseparable from compensation, and the data is clear: when teachers feel valued and fairly paid, students benefit.

But competitive salaries alone will not solve Delaware's teacher shortage if we do not also address the pipeline. The cost of a college education has risen to levels that make teaching — with its historically modest starting salaries — a financially irrational choice for many talented young people. Going into tens of thousands of dollars of debt to start a career at a beginning teacher's salary is a losing proposition, and that calculation is reflected in teacher shortages across Delaware and the nation.

Delaware graduates thousands of students every year who have the potential and the passion to become great teachers — but we are failing to create accessible pathways that move them into the classroom without the gatekeeping of traditional university certification programs and the debt that comes with them. I support the development of alternative, affordable, and accelerated teacher certification pathways that meet rigorous standards without requiring candidates to take on crippling debt. Done right, we could meaningfully close Delaware's teacher gap within a few years. Done wrong — or not done at all — the shortage will only deepen. I am committed to making sure we actually act.

If elected, I will advocate in the budget process for full PECC funding and oppose any effort to defer or dilute the final phase of implementation. I will also support policies that address the non-compensation factors driving educator burnout — excessive paperwork, inadequate planning time, and the growing demands placed on teachers without additional support.

What steps would you support to improve compensation and working conditions for Education Support Professionals?

ESPs are the backbone of our schools. Bus drivers, custodians, paraprofessionals, food service workers, secretaries — without them, schools do not function. And too many of them are paid wages that do not reflect the essential work they do or allow them to support their families. That is both a moral failure and a practical one: staffing shortages among ESPs directly harm students.

Yes, I support establishing a statewide minimum compensation standard for ESPs. Leaving ESP wages entirely to district-level variation perpetuates inequity and makes it impossible to address shortages systematically.

To address staffing shortages, I support targeted state recruitment investments, streamlined pathways to employment, and working conditions that treat ESPs as the professionals they are — including adequate break time, manageable workloads, and genuine inclusion in school communities.

Yes, I support dedicated state funding for ESP compensation, career pathways, training, and professional development. The 2026 session made progress on support staff wages, and I will build on that foundation.

Please share your position and thoughts on workers' rights to collective bargaining.

I am an unequivocal supporter of workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain. Unions built the middle class, and the data is clear: workers with union representation earn more, have better benefits, and work in safer conditions. For educators, collective bargaining is not just an employment protection — it is how teachers and ESPs have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their working lives and their students' learning environments.

As a small business owner, I have seen both sides of the employer-employee relationship. I believe fair compensation and respectful working conditions are not just good ethics — they are good business. Delaware's educators deserve a representative who understands that, and I will be a consistent ally to DSEA members in Legislative Hall.

This is not a theoretical position for me. Through my years of education advocacy alongside Delaware's teachers and support staff, I have seen what it means when educators have a strong union behind them — and what it costs students and schools when that voice is weakened. DSEA members are not just a constituency I want to serve. They are partners I have been working alongside for years, and I intend to keep it that way.

Would you support an amendment to the Delaware constitution protecting the right to collective bargaining?

Yes, I would support a constitutional amendment protecting the right to collective bargaining in Delaware. At a moment when labor rights are under sustained attack at the federal level, enshrining those protections in our state constitution is exactly the kind of proactive defense that responsible governance requires. Fundamental rights should not depend on shifting political winds, and the right to organize is fundamental.

Please discuss your views regarding Delaware's current pension program for public education and state employees.

Delaware's defined-benefit pension system is a critical tool for recruiting and retaining public educators and employees, and I am committed to protecting it. A pension is a promise — one made to educators who built careers in Delaware's classrooms on the expectation that their retirement security would be honored.

On long-term sustainability: I support the actuarially sound funding of pension obligations as a non-negotiable budget priority. Underfunding pensions today simply shifts a larger and more expensive burden to future legislators and future taxpayers. I will oppose budget maneuvers that defer required pension contributions.

I do not support shifting current or future educators to defined-contribution plans as a cost-saving measure. The risk transfer onto individual employees is neither fair nor consistent with the commitment Delaware made to its public servants. If changes are needed to strengthen the system's long-term sustainability, they must be developed in genuine partnership with DSEA and the employees affected.

Please discuss your views on healthcare benefits for active and retired public employees.

Healthcare costs represent one of the most significant and growing burdens on active and retired educators, and Delaware's unfunded OPEB liabilities require serious, sustained attention. I believe the state has a moral obligation to current and future retirees to honor the healthcare benefits they were promised, and I will oppose any effort to unilaterally reduce those benefits.

I also want to be direct about a threat that has emerged in recent years: the push to transition retired public employees to Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare Advantage is not an improvement on traditional Medicare — it is a mechanism for transferring public healthcare dollars to private insurance companies while reducing the quality and accessibility of care for retirees who earned their benefits through decades of public service. Delaware came dangerously close to making this transition, and the pressure to do so will return. I oppose the privatization of healthcare for public employees and retirees, full stop. The state's obligation to the people who served Delaware's students and communities does not end at retirement, and I will fight any effort to fulfill that obligation on the cheap through privatization schemes that benefit shareholders over retirees.

To reduce healthcare costs and out-of-pocket expenses, I will support greater state investment in wellness and preventive care programs, bulk purchasing and negotiation strategies, and transparency in healthcare pricing. I will also push for a serious, long-term plan to address OPEB liabilities — not through benefit cuts to retirees, but through disciplined, consistent actuarial funding.

The goal must be quality coverage that is sustainable over time. Getting there requires honest accounting, long-term planning, and the political will to treat these obligations as the commitments they are.

Please discuss how you would address the nonacademic factors that prevent students from reaching their full potential.

Students do not leave their lives at the schoolhouse door. A child who is hungry, homeless, experiencing trauma, or living without stable healthcare cannot be expected to focus and thrive academically. Delaware's educators know this better than anyone — they see it every day. So do I.

For 20 years I have worked with PAWS For People bringing pet therapy teams into Delaware classrooms, serving students with emotional, literacy, and special needs. I have watched a child who struggled to read aloud to a teacher read confidently to a therapy dog. I have seen students with significant emotional challenges find calm and connection through animal-assisted interaction. The evidence base for these interventions is strong, and the human impact is profound. During Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long's tenure, I worked with her office to establish dedicated pet therapy teams in every Delaware public school — a program that deserves to be revisited and finally realized.

The arts have the same transformational power. My husband and I have partnered with local teachers to bring dance into their classrooms, and I have seen the confidence, discipline, creativity, and joy that arts exposure unlocks — especially for students who struggle to engage through traditional academic pathways. Arts education belongs in every Delaware school as a core component of a well-rounded education, not a budget line item to be cut when times get tight.

As Representative, I will support a holistic approach to student wellbeing that includes:

• Expanding access to school-based mental health services and ensuring adequate ratios of school counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Delaware's current ratios fall far short of national recommendations, and the consequences show up in classrooms every day.

• Strengthening connections between schools and community wraparound services — housing assistance, food programs, healthcare access, and family support — so that educators are not left as the last line of defense against problems that extend well beyond the classroom.

• Supporting full funding for school breakfast and lunch programs and eliminating the stigma and administrative barriers that prevent eligible students from accessing nutritious meals.

• Protecting and expanding arts education, physical education, and enrichment programming — including evidence-based interventions like pet therapy — as essential components of a complete education.

Our public schools must be the cornerstone of our communities. They are the foundation of Delaware's economic and social success, and every decision I make in Legislative Hall will reflect that conviction.

Why are you running for the Delaware General Assembly, and what experiences have prepared you to serve effectively on day one?

I spent 15 years as an engineer at HP, solving problems for a living, before I walked away from that career at 36 to build something of my own — a dance studio that's become a real community gathering place for the Newark area for almost 20 years now. Somewhere in between, I became the person who shows up: to Legislative Hall to fight for gun safety with Moms Demand Action and public education with LWV Advocacy Corps, to Christina School District meetings to fight for our local schools, students, and teachers, to hospitals, correctional facilities, and classrooms for two decades of volunteer pet therapy work, and to leadership tables across a half-dozen community and business organizations.

None of that happened because I was preparing to run for office. It happened because I care, and because I don't sit on the sidelines when something needs fixing.

That's exactly what prepares me to serve on day one. I already know how Delaware's committees work, which advocates and agency staff to call, and where the real leverage points are on the issues I care about most — because I've been doing this work from the outside for over a decade. I'm not asking Delaware to trust a stranger. I'm asking for a seat at a table I've been standing next to for years.

Delaware recently adopted a new hybrid public education funding formula designed to direct more resources toward students with greater needs while increasing flexibility and accountability for school districts and charter schools. What are your views on this new funding model, and what, if anything, would you like to see improved as implementation continues?

This reform was long overdue — Delaware's funding formula went unchanged for over 80 years, since the 1940s, and it left the students who needed the most support with the least. I've spent over a decade in this fight through my work with Friends of Christina School District and the League of Women Voters' Advocacy Corps Education Portfolio, so I've watched this formula's failures up close, and I fought for the change that finally arrived this year.

The new hybrid model gets the fundamentals right: it directs real weight toward low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities, instead of funding every student identically regardless of need. That's real progress.

As implementation continues, I want to see three things improved. First, full funding — this is a down payment on the $600 million to $1.2 billion Delaware's own commissioned study says is actually needed, and I'll fight to phase that in rather than let the reform stall halfway. Second, real accountability: every district and charter school receiving these dollars should report clearly on outcomes, not just spending. And third, enough flexibility for districts like Christina, with their own unique challenges, to design solutions that fit their students — not a one-size-fits-all mandate from Dover.

Delaware families have a variety of public education options, including traditional school districts, charter schools, magnet programs, vocational-technical schools, and choice programs. How do you believe the state should balance expanding educational opportunities for families while ensuring accountability and equitable access for all students?

Choice only means something if it's actually equitable, and right now, parts of Delaware's system aren't. Charter and choice schools can pull students and funding away from neighborhood public schools with far less accountability than those schools face — and when that happens without real oversight, it's the traditional public schools serving the highest-need kids who are left absorbing the loss. That's not a hypothetical: Delaware's Charter School Accountability Committee just recommended revoking a charter's authorization this year, which tells you the current guardrails aren't always catching problems early enough.

I don't think expanding options and protecting our traditional public schools are opposing goals, but I won't pretend there's no tension between them. Every school receiving public dollars — charter, vo-tech, magnet, or district — should be held to the same transparency and outcome reporting standards, not a lighter version. And access itself needs to be genuinely equitable: transportation isn't guaranteed for choice students the way it is for a student's assigned school, which quietly limits "choice" to families who can already manage the logistics.

Delaware families deserve real options, but our neighborhood public schools, which still serve the vast majority of our kids, deserve to not be quietly hollowed out in the process.

What role should the General Assembly play in improving student outcomes in literacy, mathematics, career preparation, and postsecondary readiness?

The General Assembly's role is to set the floor, fund it fully, and get out of the way of educators who know how to do the work — on both foundational skills and what comes after them.

On literacy and math, Delaware has a real crisis, and the data says so plainly: only 38% of third graders read on grade level, and just 18% of 11th graders test proficient in math, a number that's been essentially flat for five years. I'd stay the course on the science-of-reading laws already in place — universal K-3 screening, evidence-based curricula, teacher training — and push the same rigor for math, building on Delaware's existing K-12 Mathematics Framework with early math screening and guaranteed access to advanced coursework like Algebra I by eighth grade, the way other states have started requiring.

On career preparation, Delaware has real infrastructure to build on: over 120 CTE programs of study, with more than 60% of middle and high schoolers participating in at least one. I'd expand youth apprenticeships in fields facing real shortages, like healthcare and skilled trades, and make sure postsecondary funding is tied to credential and college completion, not just enrollment.

How should policymakers evaluate proposals that involve private charitable funding to support educational programs or student opportunities? What factors would influence whether you support or oppose such proposals?

The bigger question is why private funding proposals keep coming up in the first place. If Delaware adequately funded public education, schools wouldn't be turning to charitable dollars to cover gaps that should be covered by the state. Private funding is often treated as a bonus, but a lot of the time it's a symptom of a funding formula that still isn't doing its job.

That matters because private funding, even well-intentioned, isn't neutral. It rarely comes with an explicit condition attached, but it creates its own quiet pressure: once a school or program depends on it, there's an incentive to keep doing whatever earned that grant, in order to secure it again next year, rather than adapting based on what's actually working for students. Public funding has a clear, accountable mechanism behind it — a budget, a formula, a vote. Private funding doesn't. A school can't build a five-year plan around money that a foundation might simply decide not to renew, and chasing that uncertainty pulls attention away from outcomes and toward fundraising.

So I'd evaluate any proposal against a few factors: transparency in the source, amount, and terms; no strings, explicit or implicit, that shift control away from public accountability; equity, since funding that flows to already well-resourced schools deepens the gap it should be closing; and sustainability, since programs built entirely on private money leave students and staff exposed when it disappears.

Private philanthropy can supplement public education. It shouldn't substitute for the state's core obligation to adequately and equitably fund our public schools — and the more Delaware treats private funding as an acceptable stand-in, the less pressure there is to actually fix the underlying problem.

Describe an issue on which you have changed your mind. What led you to reconsider your position?

For years, my instinct on crime was fairly conventional: if you break the law, there are consequences, and that's how it should be. I didn't spend much time questioning what those consequences actually looked like up close.

That changed through two decades of volunteer pet therapy work, including regular visits to Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. Sitting across from people who were serving real time — not for violence, not for anything that made anyone safer by locking them up, but because they couldn't pay a fine or fee, or missed a probation appointment — forced me to separate two things I'd always lumped together: punishment and public safety. Those aren't the same thing, and our system often confuses them.

That's what led me to support things like ending debtors' prison practices and limiting incarceration for technical probation violations. I still believe in accountability. But I no longer believe that jailing someone for being poor, or for a paperwork failure, makes any Delawarean safer. It just makes their life — and often their family's — much harder to rebuild.

When considering education legislation, whose perspectives do you believe are most important to hear before casting your vote?

Teachers and school staff first — they're in the classroom every day, and they know faster than any study what's actually working and what's just theory. Parents and students next, because education policy is supposed to serve them, not the other way around, and their lived experience of a school is different from what shows up in a hearing room. And I'd specifically seek out families and students who are furthest from opportunity — low-income families, students with disabilities, English language learners — because policy that only reflects the loudest or most connected voices in the room tends to reproduce the same inequities it's supposed to fix.

I'd also want to hear from district and school administrators who have to actually implement whatever passes, and from the data — outcomes, not just intentions. My own decade-plus in this fight, through Friends of Christina School District and the League of Women Voters, taught me that the people affected by a policy almost always understand its real-world consequences better than the people writing it. I'd rather walk into a vote having talked to too many people than too few.

How should Delaware ensure property reassessments are fair and prevent sharp tax increases for homeowners?

Our elected officials kicked the can down the road for over 40 years. When you finally correct four decades of drift in one shot, sharp increases and errors are inevitable. Fairness starts with never letting that gap open again: Delaware now requires reassessments every five years, and I'll fight to keep that schedule funded and enforced, not quietly abandoned when it's politically inconvenient.

For homeowners caught in this transition, I support the relief measures already moving - quality-control reviews to catch valuation errors, extended appeal deadlines and cash refunds for successful appeals, and subpoena power for counties to verify commercial valuations so the burden doesn't quietly shift onto residential owners. Longer term, I'll push the Property Tax Relief and Modernization Working Group toward real structural fixes - phase-in caps on sharp year-over-year increases, simplified appeals, and transparent processes - solutions that help now. 

The state also needs to drive this process next time, with clear guidelines for any contractor.  Tyler Technologies largely ran the 2025 rollout with too little oversight, and that can't happen again.  Delawareans deserve a system that's predictable, not one that blindsides them once a generation.

What changes, if any, would you make to Delaware's education funding system, and how would you improve student outcomes?

Delaware's school funding formula went unchanged for over 80 years, since the 1940s, and it left the students who needed the most support with the least. I've spent over a decade in this fight through my work with Friends of Christina School District and the League of Women Voters' Advocacy Corps Education Portfolio. This year's SB 302 and SB 303 finally passed a new hybrid formula that targets resources toward low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities - real progress I fought for.

But it's a down payment, not the finish line. The state's own commissioned study found Delaware needs another $600 million to $1.2 billion to fully fund an adequate education. I'll push to phase that funding in over time.

To improve outcomes, funding has to come with real accountability - every new dollar, at every school receiving public funds, tied to measurable results for students and teachers, not just a bigger number on paper. That means investing in recruiting and retaining strong teachers, expanding school-based mental health support, and bringing comprehensive, out-of-the-box solutions to fights like next year's proposed NCC school district consolidation - not another study.

Delaware continues to experience significant growth. How should state and local governments balance development with concerns about traffic, infrastructure, farmland and open space?

Delaware can't keep growing the way we have been - piecemeal, project by project, with infrastructure and farmland protection playing catch-up after the fact. Governor Meyer's recent Executive Order updating the State Strategies and launching Corridor Planning Areas is a step in the right direction: aligning transportation investment with development decisions instead of treating them separately, and expanding tools like the Downtown Development District Program to focus growth where infrastructure can actually support it.

I'll support real, sustained funding for the Delaware Open Space Program and Agricultural Lands Preservation Program, both of which have seen their dedicated funding cut or waived in recent years even as development pressure increases. Farmland we pave over doesn't come back. I'll also push for stronger coordination requirements so counties and the state are planning infrastructure - roads, water, schools - before new development is approved, not scrambling afterward. Growth itself isn't the enemy; growth without a plan is. Delaware needs to decide where we want density and where we want to protect open space, and actually stick to it.

What is one specific action you would support to make Delaware government more transparent and accountable?

I'd push to put real enforcement teeth behind Delaware's Freedom of Information Act. Right now, FOIA denial can be the path of least resistance for public bodies - the ACLU of Delaware recently had to sue the state's own Department of Justice over inadequate FOIA responses, and a town separately over withheld records. When people have to sue their own government just to see basic public records, that's not transparency, that's an obstacle course. I'd support faster, standardized response timelines, real penalties for improperly withholding records, and an independent body with authority to resolve disputes without requiring a lawsuit every time.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also address my strong feelings on the legislature's midnight scramble every June 30th. Watching lawmakers pass or kill our biggest budget and policy fights in a bleary-eyed rush past midnight into July 1 isn't how the people's business should get done, and it leaves real concerns unaddressed simply because there wasn't time. I'd support finally passing the constitutional amendment to move the session deadline to 5pm instead. Trust in government starts with people actually seeing how decisions get made - not rushed through in the dark.

What transportation or infrastructure project should be the state's top priority, and how should it be funded?

Delaware's Transportation Trust Fund is facing a long-term funding crisis: it relies heavily on the gas tax, and electric and more efficient vehicles mean that revenue is shrinking even as our infrastructure needs grow. Governor Meyer's Sustainable Transportation Funding Task Force is studying long-term fixes, due to report by the end of this year, and I'll push for that report to translate into action - not another study that sits on a shelf, and a funding model that doesn't disproportionately burden working families.

As for priority: I'd focus on congestion and safety corridors that connect underserved communities to jobs, schools, and transit - projects like the SR 9 corridor work already underway, which pairs safety and connectivity improvements with equity for neighborhoods long divided by highways. District 23 has its own pressure point: the proposed Aston Pointe development in Fair Hill, Maryland, sits less than a mile from Newark and would add 500+ homes' worth of traffic onto the already-narrow Route 273 corridor. I'll push for real cross-border coordination with Maryland, not Delaware absorbing growth we had no say in. As an engineer, I understand infrastructure has to be planned decades ahead, not patched after it's already failing.

What should Delaware do to address rising housing and cost-of-living challenges?

Affordability isn't one bill, it's a stack of them, and Delaware has real ones moving right now. On housing, I'd cut the realty transfer tax on homes under $350,000 for first-time buyers, fight for sustained funding for affordable housing near transit and jobs, and push full funding for eviction diversion and legal aid.

Cost-of-living pressure doesn't stop at rent. I'd support raising the Purchase of Care childcare subsidy eligibility cap, frozen at 200% of the federal poverty level, and fully match the Child and Dependent Care tax credit to the federal rate, not the current 50%.

Utility costs deserve equal attention. Delmarva Power has sought its third rate increase in five years, even as regional capacity costs driven largely by data center demand get passed straight to residential bills. I supported this year's Senate Bill 326, capping what utilities can recover for nonessential infrastructure spending — rate increases should pay for reliability that benefits customers, not commercial growth.

Healthcare costs matter just as much — Delaware has missed its own spending benchmark for over a decade, and I'll fight to see Senate Bill 1 actually enforced. I'd also expand Delaware's Earned Income Tax Credit so families keep more of what they earn.