Sen. Laura Sturgeon, D-Brandywine West, tried to do it all.
After winning her seat in a huge Democratic upset in 2018, the freshman lawmaker spent her first legislative session juggling her other job: teaching Spanish at Concord High School.
Once the legislature convened in January, Sturgeon had to leave school early three days a week to get to Legislative Hall in Dover, where her chamber gavels in at 2 p.m. The Democrat was able to leave her classes in the hands of a substitute, but still had to prepare lessons and grade papers from the classes she missed.
The daily demands of molding young minds, paired with being a decision-maker for the whole state, soon became too much. Sturgeon announced this fall that, after 25 years of teaching, she's retiring on Jan. 1 to focus solely on lawmaking.
"I feel like I’m a little bit behind the curve compared to my friends who do it full-time," Sturgeon told The News Journal.
Sturgeon thinks the demands of the job and the compensation narrows down the kind of person who can be a legislator in Delaware, which could affect the kinds of policy decisions being made in Legislative Hall.
It's "almost impossible" to have legislators who are working non-flexible hours in a separate career, she said. She has heard of other lawmakers whose employers weren't willing to give them time off when they became legislators.
"It tends to attract a lot of people from the business world, so they view everything though the lens of business," Sturgeon said. "And it seems to attract retirees, but they might have had all kinds of diverse careers before they retired."
About a third of Delaware's 62 General Assembly members either own, co-own or head a business, according to lawmakers' latest financial disclosures submitted to the Public Integrity Commission. Several are also attorneys or consultants.
Many legislators are retired and do not have an additional job, according to the information that legislators voluntarily provide to the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
“It reduces the diversity," Sturgeon said. "The more diversity you have down there of life experiences and careers, the stronger a body we are at making wise decisions."
Sturgeon said the job became full-time work, and wishes that legislating was a full-time job that "paid enough that it would open it up to more people."
In Delaware, lawmakers work in Legislative Hall six months out of the year, which allows most to have more than one job.
But Sturgeon, who has set hours during the school year, felt like she had to play catch-up with her colleagues who have more flexible schedules. She said she didn't have enough time to meet with stakeholders or build relationships with other lawmakers, which is crucial to win over support for legislation.
In 2018, Sturgeon was part of the record number of teachers who ran for legislative seats, mostly as Democrats.
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"It was something I thought I brought to the table (as) someone who knows what it’s like to go to work every day," Sturgeon said. "We have a lot of wealthy legislators who can afford to not work or make their own hours."
Kristin Dwyer, a lobbyist for the Delaware State Education Association, said her union organization encourages current and former teachers to run for state office, despite Sturgeon's decision.
"We absolutely do think it's doable," Dwyer said.
Thirty-three-year-old Rep. Sean Matthews, D-Talleyville, who also teaches at the Brandywine School District, did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Matthews and Sturgeon aren't the only lawmakers who have worked in education. A few lawmakers, such as Rep. Jeffrey Spiegelman, R-Clayton, teach higher education. Rep. Stephanie Bolden, D-Wilmington East, is a retired teacher.
On top of fighting for gun control again in 2020, Sturgeon said she still wants to tackle the state's education funding — another one of the most hotly debated topics in Dover. Because of her job, she said she's felt like she had her “finger on the pulse” when it comes to Delaware schools and what would improve them.
Sturgeon said many of her colleagues who are retired or working on more flexible schedules are still "getting out to the communities and hearing from people who do work every day."
But it's still not ideal, she said.
"I thought it was going to be easier because I knew that being a legislator is considered part-time," Sturgeon said. "The pay is certainly what I would consider part-time pay."
Sturgeon makes nearly $57,000 per year as a lawmaker, and another $93,000 per year as a Brandywine School District teacher, according to data from the state budget office. The 54-year-old said she'll get a reduced pension because she hasn't hit her 30-year mark of teaching in Delaware public schools.
Sturgeon has taught in the Brandywine School District for the past eight years. Before that, she had taught at New Castle County Vo-Tech since 1994. She's one of the handful of lawmakers who get two paychecks from the state.
Sturgeon said she hopes to become an adjunct professor at one of Delaware's local private colleges in the fall semester. She said she can't teach in the spring because of scheduling conflicts with the Joint Finance Committee, which she sits on.
John Flaherty, director of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, said the General Assembly diversity used to be narrowed in a different way: In the 20th century, many lawmakers who worked for manufacturing companies were able to negotiate a flexible schedule. Some of those companies, such as DuPont, even encouraged their employees to run for office, he said.
But as the job market shifted — many of those plants have either closed or diminished since the early 2000s — so did the kind of person who could be a state legislator.
"Politics is really changing," Flaherty said. "It's gotten not only more partisan, but the interest groups that are helping to fund some of these campaigns are much more demanding than they were, say, 20 or 30 years ago."
Local civic associations want legislators to show up for meetings, which stretches their days even more thin, Flaherty said.
"I think people underestimate how demanding it is, if you want to be a good legislator," Flaherty said. Time commitments are so severe, he said, that many people have second thoughts about running for office once they find out what impact it can have on their careers and family.
Flaherty thinks Delaware will see more retired people and fewer young people running for state office. With more retirees comes more life experience, but it also brings higher turnover, he said.
"It's definitely going to affect public policy, there's no doubt," Flaherty said. "I'm not sure if that's for the good or not."
Have a story idea about politics or state government? Contact Sarah Gamard at (302) 324-2281 or sgamard@delawareonline.com.
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