An Anchorage Superior Court judge has thrown out a part of Alaska’s homeschool system that allowed parents to receive publicly-funded reimbursements for activities and courses.
The ruling strikes down the state’s homeschool allotment program, which provides money to families for the cost of activities, classes and supplies, including courses at religious or private schools. That can be up to $4,500 per student, per year. The judge said that system violates the Alaska Constitution, which prohibits spending public money on religious or private education.
Lawmakers say the ruling could have widespread consequences for places like the Kenai Peninsula, where thousands of students are homeschooled. Now, they’re looking to legislative solutions that will allow families to continue to access those funds.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he plans to appeal the ruling during a press conference Wednesday, where he rebuked its “far-reaching” impacts.
“Part of the interpretation of the ruling that just occurred is that the homeschooling correspondence laws are thrown out. In other words, the programs are gone, potentially,” Dunleavy said.
The attorney who represented the plaintiffs says that’s not true. He says a better interpretation is that it’s now up to the legislature to fix the statues, and devise a constitutional allotment system.
Many Alaska lawmakers have already signaled intentions to do that.
“It will be a high priority," said House Speaker Cathy Tilton. "We'll be talking about it as a full caucus here in the next day or two to find our path forward."
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, a Soldotna Republican, co-chairs the House Education Committee. During a press conference last Tuesday, he said he supports homeschooling 100% but agreed with some of the court’s findings.
“There is a significant question brought up by this court case, and I think it’s a valid question, and one that I’m okay with it being asked: should public monies be used for religious and private instruction? I think our constitution currently indicates that the answer is no,” Ruffridge said.
Ruffridge said homeschooling has been an important part of his personal life, and that while he agrees there should be guardrails in the allotment system, he’d like to see a swift legislative solution.
“Is it a priority to make sure that correspondence schools move forward and have the ability for parents to choose that option, and have it have funding to it? Absolutely it should. And that’s a priority of mine to make sure it happens,” he said.
The Kenai Peninsula is home to a large correspondence school population. About 1,200 students attend Connections, the district-run program, and more than that belong to IDEA, a statewide homeschool program based in Galena. During a meeting for homeschool students hosted by the Kenai Peninsula Borough in October, many parents pointed to the allotment as a critical resource, and a draw of homeschooling.
The ruling isn’t likely to affect students this school year. Both the plaintiffs and defendants are asking for the court to grant a stay, which would put that change on hold. Ruffridge hopes that stay will last a while.
"The request is to have that stay be at least in place through the end of at least the next school year...that way there isn’t a large disruption to essentially 20,000 plus students throughout the state and their ability to have education plans go forward for the next year,” Ruffridge said.
Ruffridge said that would allow lawmakers to address the issue in a future session, and focus on other priorities right now.
