Editing Delaware (section)

==Education==
{{See also|List of high schools in Delaware}}
[[File:UDel Memorial and Magnolia Circle.JPG|thumb|The [[University of Delaware]] in [[Newark, Delaware|Newark]]]]
In the early 1920s, [[Pierre S. du Pont]] served as president of the state board of education. At the time, state law prohibited money raised from white taxpayers from being used to support the state's schools for black children. Appalled by the condition of the black schools, du Pont donated four million dollars to construct 86 new school buildings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Okrent |first1=Daniel |title=Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition |year=2010 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=978-0743277020 |at=loc 5645(Kindle) |author-link=Daniel Okrent}}</ref>

Delaware was the origin of ''[[Belton v. Gebhart]]'' (1952), one of the four cases which were combined into ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] decision that led to the end of officially [[racial segregation|segregated]] public schools. Significantly, ''Belton'' was the only case in which the state court found for the plaintiffs, thereby ruling that segregation is unconstitutional.

Unlike many states, Delaware's educational system is centralized in a state Superintendent of Education, with local school boards retaining control over taxation and some curriculum decisions. This centralized system, combined with the small size of the state, likely contributed to Delaware becoming the first state, after completion of a three-year, $30{{spaces}}million program ending in 1999, to wire every K-12 classroom in the state to the Internet.<ref>{{cite conference|last=Millard|first=Sandra K.|date=October 29, 1999|title=University of Delaware Library / Statewide K–12 Partnership Providing Online Resources and Training: UDLib/SEARCH|url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED450718/|conference=EDUCAUSE '99|location=Long Beach, CA|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

{{As of|2011}}, the Delaware Department of Education had authorized the founding of 25 charter schools in the state, one of them being [[Single-sex education|all-girls]].<ref name="Dobo20110612">{{cite news |last=Dobo |first=Nichole |title=Delaware schools: Checkered past goes unchecked |access-date=June 13, 2011 |newspaper=[[The News Journal]] |url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110612/NEWS03/106120369/-1/NLETTER01/Checkered-past-goes-unchecked?source=nletter-news |date=June 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623091720/http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110612/NEWS03/106120369/-1/NLETTER01/Checkered-past-goes-unchecked?source=nletter-news |archive-date=June 23, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2010, Delaware had the largest percentage of students attending private schools of places within the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.delawarepublic.org/2010-12-16/private-schools-increasing-financial-aid-to-retain-students|title=Private schools increasing financial aid to retain students |publisher=[[Delaware Public Media]]|date=2010-12-16|access-date=2025-03-30|quote=In Delaware, with the nation’s highest percentage of private school enrollment,[...]}}</ref>

All teachers in the State's public school districts are unionized.<ref name="dobo2012">{{Cite news|last=Dobo|first=Nichole|publication-date=January 19, 2012|year=2012|title=Charter votes to join union|newspaper=[[The News Journal]]|at=delawareonline|access-date=January 19, 2012|url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120119/NEWS03/201190345/-1/NLETTER01/Charter-votes-to-join-union|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609103243/http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120119/NEWS03/201190345/-1/NLETTER01/Charter-votes-to-join-union|archive-date=June 9, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|January 2012}}, none of the State's charter schools are members of a teachers [[Trade union|union]].<ref name="dobo2012" /> One of the State's teachers' unions is Delaware State Education Association (DSEA).<ref name="dobo2012" />

===Colleges and universities===

* [[Delaware College of Art and Design]]
* [[Delaware State University]]
* [[Delaware Technical & Community College]]
* [[Goldey-Beacom College]]
* [[University of Delaware]]—Ranked 63rd in the U.S. and in top 201–250 in the world ([[Times Higher Education World University Rankings]] 2018)
* [[Widener University School of Law]]
* [[Wilmington University]]