At a recent meeting, Milford School District Board of Education discussed a petition file by K. Hovnanian, a developer, with the State Board of Education requesting that the Captain’s Way development near Ellendale be assigned to the Cape Henlopen School District rather than be split between that district and Milford.
“This is a 301-unit subdivision that is currently divided between the two districts,” Superintendent Travis Moorman said. “There are 185 lots in Cape Henlopen and there are 116 lots assigned to Milford School District. There are 14 homes that are literally split by the boundary.”
Moorman explained that the state board was the hearing entity that will hear proposals for district boundary changes. He stated that Milford School District was being asked to discuss and possibly vote on the changes. If Milford voted to approve the changes, it would then go before the Cape Henlopen School District Board of Education for approval. If that approval was granted, the residents of Captain’s Way would have to sign off and approve the change as well.
“The state board has recommended that the boundary be shifted so that the entire development is in Cape Henlopen School District,” Moorman said. “Their reasoning is that the children in the development should be inclusive and connected, meaning they should all go to the same schools. Currently, there are only 38 properties completed in Captain’s Way, so there is still a lot of building to be done. We are currently collecting $30,872 in tax revenue on those properties.”
Once the development is completed, Moorman stated that Milford School District would lose $125,000 in revenue annually. However, Moorman pointed out that when the boundary was viewed, the development was closer to schools in Cape Henlopen than in Milford. Dr. Sara Hale confirmed that all of the homes currently constructed in the development were in Milford as the Cape Henlopen portion of the subdivision had not been constructed.
“Is the reasoning for this change simply a marketing perspective?” Hale asked. “If the homes have been there since 2023, I feel like we were there first. The homes are already in Milford, so why wouldn’t we take over the whole development.”
Moorman felt that the developer was going to use the Cape Henlopen School District as leverage in marketing. School Board President Scott Fitzgerald stated that he had run numbers over the weekend, and the development was about four miles from H.O. Brittingham and about five miles from Morris.
“The elementary and middle school are actually closer to this development for Cape Henlopen, but the high school is not,” Fitzgerald said. “
Hale expressed disappointment in the request.
“I am disappointed that it kind of puts two neighboring districts in this position in what feels like a marketing ploy, whether that is intentional or unintentional,” Hale said. “I feel like it disparages our schools and says that going to Cape Henlopen over Milford is better. I firmly disagree with that, obviously. I think there are known instances throughout the state where these boundary lines traverse developments and they make it work among the districts. We have situations in our district now where Cape Henlopen and Milford share boundaries.”
Cindy McKenzie agreed with Hale stating that the loss of revenue was concerning, but that a mile or two distance was not significant enough to change the boundary.
“I’m like 50-50,” Jennifer Massotti said. “I agree with Sara, but in my opinion, these children will go to Morris and Ross. It is not the revenue, but that those schools are already overcrowded.”
Hale pointed out that the district could adjust boundaries among other elementary schools to address that problem if it was necessary. A motion was made to table the request.
“State code indicates that when boundary changes are contested, there could be the potential for a referendum,” Moorman said. “Now, what that looks like, I don’t know. If we do not vote to approve this, it very well could go to a vote. This doesn’t happen frequently and most of the time districts work it out. I know when Dr. Smith was superintendent and Mark Dufendach in operations and finance, we had a very similar discussion.”
Fitzgerald asked if there was another section of Cape Henlopen, they would be willing to trade in exchange for this development. Moorman said he could investigate other options and bring them back to the board. The board voted to table the matter with a vote of four to zero.
