Secretary Bunting leaving post

The head of Delaware’s Department of Education is leaving her post, Gov. John Carney announced Oct. 6.

Dr. Susan Bunting, who was confirmed as secretary of the Delaware Department of Education in 2017, will leave her position in December after nearly five decades of service in Delaware public education. She has not announced her next steps but intends to remain involved in educator training and development, according a press release from Carney, and her successor has not yet been named.

“Dr. Bunting is respected across our state, and no one was better suited to lead the Department of Education over these past five years,” Carney said. “Susan has spent a lifetime dedicated to public education in Delaware, and the people of our state have been lucky to have her at the helm. No one has made a bigger impact than Susan on preparing the next generation of Delaware educators and helping them grow into effective teacher-leaders. Most importantly, I want to thank Susan for her tireless dedication to Delaware’s students, especially those most in need. Her public service and dedication to the success of all Delaware children is unmatched.”

During her tenure at the DOE, Bunting oversaw the creation and expansion of Opportunity Funding, Delaware’s first weighted student funding program. The program targets support for low-income and English learner students.

She transformed the DOE into an agency focused on supporting educators and schools. Over the past 19 months, she oversaw the department’s efforts to vaccinate thousands of educators and childcare providers, while helping districts and charter schools continue to educate children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before taking the top educator position in the state, Bunting spent four decades in the Indian River School District, starting there in 1977 as a language arts teacher after teaching in Maryland for several years. Bunting was named Indian River’s Teacher of the Year in 1985 before going on to serve as supervisor of elementary instruction and later as director of instruction. In 2006, she was named superintendent of IRSD, one of the state’s largest school districts, serving more than 11,000 students.  As Delaware’s 2012 Superintendent of the Year, Bunting was one of four finalists for the American Association of School Administrators’ National Superintendent of the Year Award.