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Delaware Senate Democrats

Meet Your Senator

Laura V. Sturgeon


District 4


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Laura V. Sturgeon

Sen. Laura Viviana Sturgeon represents the Fourth Senate District, which includes West Talleyville, Greenville, Centreville, Hockessin and parts of Pike Creek.

The daughter of Argentine immigrants, Sturgeon has lived or worked in Delaware since she was just over a year old. A proud graduate of Brandywine High School, she later earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in English literature, both from the University of Delaware.

Sturgeon worked as a public school teacher for 25 years before retiring from her job teaching Spanish at Concord High School in late 2019. She previously taught English at Delcastle Technical High School, where she was the 2001 Teacher of the Year, and at Hodgson Vocational Technical High School, where she was the English Department Chair from 2006-2009.

Prior to running for public office, Sturgeon served in an appointed position on her local teacher union’s executive committee and later won a seat on the board of the Delaware State Education Association, the largest union in the state. Those experiences, combined with her passion for women’s rights and her desire to help mold public education policy, inspired her to run for a seat in the Delaware General Assembly. 

In 2018, Sturgeon become the first Latina ever elected to the Delaware State Senate, which stands as one of her proudest accomplishments.

Sen. Sturgeon currently serves as chair of the Senate Education Committee and a member of the Senate Corrections & Public Safety, Environment, Energy & Transportation, and the Health & Social Services committees. She also holds a seat on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.

She and her husband Bill live in Woodbrook with their standard poodle and rescued cat.

Family

Spouse: Bill

Education

Brandywine High School, Class of 1983; Bachelor’s degree, Communications, University of Delaware, 1988; Master’s degree, Literature and Pedagogy, University of Delaware, 1994

Occupation

Retired public school teacher

Legislative Service:

Senate, 2018 to present

Committees:

Legislative Highlights


Senate Bill 56


Recognizing that students with more intensive needs require greater support in the classroom, Governor John Carney in 2019 announced he was allocating $60 million over three years in one-time funding to help Delaware’s public schools better support English language learners […]

Senate Bill 56

Senate Bill 4 (S)


A retired public school teacher who now chairs the Senate Education Committee, Sen. Laura Sturgeon led the way in assisting our public school to raise lagging literacy rates among Delaware students by shifting the state’s reading instruction to evidence-based curricula […]

Senate Bill 4 (S)

Senate Bill 133


Continuing her focus on helping Delaware public schools provide evidence-based reading instruction proven to raise lagging literacy rates, Sen. Sturgeon ushered Senate Bill 133 through the Delaware General Assembly with unanimous support in both the Senate and the House. To […]

Senate Bill 133

Senate Bill 78 (S)


To better protect students from harm, Sen. Sturgeon passed legislation in 2021 to close loopholes in Delaware law that once allowed people convicted of crimes against children to run for a seat on their local school board and permitted sitting […]

Senate Bill 78 (S)

Mentions


Senate votes to create commission tasked with developing school funding reforms

A commission of legislators, educators, community leaders and other advocates will conduct a comprehensive review of how public education is funded in the First State, and recommend a series of reforms to better address student need and more equitably distribute resources across districts and charter schools, under legislation passed by the Delaware Senate on Tuesday. […]