About Us

WHO WE ARE

Delaware’s public schools have struggled for more than a decade, with most students falling short in reading and math. This ongoing crisis limits children’s growth, dignity, and future opportunities.

Citizens for Delaware Schools (C4DS) began in 2023 as a nonpartisan nonprofit to convert increased awareness and concern about dismal K–12 public education results into real action. We work with parents, highlight the vital need for strong academics, and support new school board leaders. Through effective school boards — where decisions on policy, budgets, and classroom results come together — we help build conditions that lead to clear gains in student learning.

Change occurs only when school boards create the conditions for better student outcomes prompted by more parents and taxpayers of Delaware insisting on better schools that provide academic instruction to children in a safe and supportive classroom environment. This means:

  • more parental involvement in their children’s education and upbringing,
  • radical improvement in student academic outcomes, and
  • policies that protect teachers and students from disruptive behavior and maximize instruction time.
A list of three things that Citizens for Delaware Schools works to pull the community together on solutions
National School Board Affiliation

Citizens for Delaware Schools is the state affiliate for School Boards for Academic Excellence–our national partner (www.sbaenetwork.org)

WHY SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT

Most people pay virtually no attention to school board elections, which occur in May. 

This function is so important on so many levels — children, families, future work force, and the nation — that it seems unconscionable for a community not to take an active interest in the workings and performance of the school board. But here we are in Delaware where the voter turnout in school board elections is a miserable average of five percent.

 Yet, local school boards are the unseen decision makers in your child’s schooling. Effectively accountable only at the ballot box at election time, school boards members wield considerable power over the education and social development of children.  While their primary function is to elect and oversee the superintendent, let’s drill down on what that includes. 

  • Oversight and approval of how millions of taxpayer dollars are spent.
  • Maximize student outcomes to the highest degree.
  • Approve construction and maintenance of extensive school buildings and infrastructure.
  • Review selection and implementation of curriculum and textbooks.
  • Create policies that ensure the safety of students and teachers at school.
  • Promote the greater involvement of parents and the community in education.
  • Evaluate whether the superintendent (their only employee) is doing his/her job and have the power to hire and fire the superintendent.
 

OUR VISION

All Delaware students (K-12) receive an excellent education that gives them advanced knowledge and critical thinking needed to achieve their full potential and success in life. 

 

OUR MISSION

Create an informed citizenry about the state of education in Delaware and persuade them to take action that helps help kids realize their full potential and lead successful lives.

 

FOUNDER

Nancy Mercante    

Nancy Mercante spent years as an executive in corporate communications with major companies in finance, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications. After leaving the corporate world, she joined the board of Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids, helping bring school gardens to Delaware schools.

In 2023, she founded Citizens for Delaware Schools to turn public awareness and concern about K-12 public education into action. This grassroots group works to engage parents, hold school boards accountable, and recruit strong, independent candidates who put students and academic learning first.