State revokes Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence charter

Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence, a Georgetown charter school, will close at the end of the current academic year, the State Board of Education decided the evening of March 19.

The board unanimously agreed with the recommendation by Delaware Department of Education Secretary Cindy Marten to revoke the school’s charter at the end of the school year.

”After careful review of the full record, I have concluded that BASSE has not met the statutory criteria under Section 512, Paragraph 8 related to enrollment and economic and operational viability,” Marten said.

“First, BASSE’s authorized charter specifies an enrollment many times higher than is currently realized, and the record does not reflect a clear path to achieving the enrollment necessary to support the school’s operations,” she said.

The enrollment was listed as 117 a week before the state board meeting, which is less than 35% of the 350 in its charter, according to the state.

Also, BASSE’s 2025 financial audit found there was insufficient information to determine its financial condition, Marten pointed out. 

“Considered alongside current enrollment levels, the department cannot verify solvency, payroll obligations or appropriate use of funds,” she said.

Marten and several board members expressed sympathy for the staff, students and families affected by the decision.

State Board of Education member Meredith Griffin Jr. said he was active with Maurice J. Moyer Academic Institute when the Wilmington charter school closed in 2014.

“I have sat on this side of this decision but have also been on the other side of the decision and know what that feels like, and all of the angst that goes along with preparing for formal review and  then the outcome when it is something like this,” Griffin said. 

BASSE leaders met after the decision and issued a message to families, educators, staff and supporters praising their accomplishments together, and expressing frustration and sadness.

“We are disheartened that the Delaware Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Cindy Marten and the State Board of Education, has decided to close the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence,” the board said. “This decision is even more troubling, given that the secretary has never visited the school or spoken directly with its leadership.”

School leaders also were disappointed that the state did not do more to gauge the sentiment of the community, which it said supported BASSE.

“The formal review process prioritized the state office and its officeholders over the public they serve,” the board said. “The community wants this school, and when BASSE created culturally responsive opportunities for parents and families to engage here on our campus, we saw higher engagement from parents and students alike because they were more comfortable finding their voice on home turf rather than in the cold, formal settings of the formal review process.”  

The school serves grades six through nine and had made plans to expand to 10th grade during the 2026-27 school year.

The state Charter School Accountability Committee on Feb. 17 unanimously recommended revoking the school’s charter due to enrollment, financial and organizational concerns.

The review was initiated after the Delaware Department of Education, with the assent of the State Board of Education, placed the school’s charter on formal review Dec. 18.

Options available to the State Board of Education included no action, probation with goals to improve operations or closure. A recommendation to close required action by the state board and DDOE secretary. 

Enrollment at the Georgetown charter school slipped from the initial 230 when its doors opened in September 2024 on the Delaware Technical Community College Owens Campus to 153 at the end of December 2024.

Head of School Raushann Austin said Feb. 18 that the number of students fell to about 123 by the start of its second school year in September 2025, shortly after she was hired, and has remained at about that level.

A March 9 public hearing organized by DDOE gathered comments for Marten to consider in her recommendation.

The event, held at the Delaware Tech campus in Georgetown, drew about 50 school leaders, staff and students who urged the state to keep Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence open. They were optimistic that enrollment declines could be reversed.

Leaders of the charter school said financial and organizational issues had been resolved under the current administration.

Written comments submitted to the state were more mixed, with some parents and students praising the school, and others critical of it.

The school was saddled with debt from the start, and there were continuing changes in leadership as enrollment declined in the first year after it opened, Austin said in February.

Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence began with a $300,000 deficit, and enrollment dropped from 230 on opening day to 153 by the end of December 2024, she said.

Some of the school’s leaders had been pinning hopes of increasing enrollment on actions by Sussex Academy and Sussex Tech. The county’s other two charter schools would be announcing student acceptances for next school year and establishing wait lists of an estimated 2,000 students.

Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence officials expected some wait-listed students would apply to their school. However, acceptance decisions at the other schools were expected Friday, March 20, a day after the state’s final decision on closure.

In their message released after the state’s decision, BASSE leaders sought to comfort students after the decision.

“To our students: this moment may be hard to understand,” the board said. “While you may not walk through the physical doors of our school next school year, know that our community created a support system for you inside and outside that building. We will never forget or stop cheering for you.”