There is no equity for more than 17% of Alaska’s students — the ones who are home schooled

By DAVID BOYLE

Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman has kicked a hornet’s nest and those hornets, home school parents, are mad as hell. 

With his decision, Judge Zeman started a battle between parents who want the best education fit for their children and the education industry that wants to protect its institutional turf — the brick & mortar schools.

Home school parents are waking up to the facts. 

One judge with the flick of a pen did away with the pittance of financial assistance homeschool parents used to get. Now these parents understand that their children aren’t “worth” as much to the state when it comes to funding their children’s education.

The constant cry of equity from the teachers’ unions and school boards seems not to apply to homeschoolers. There is no equity in state financing of these correspondence students.

Here is one parent’s testimony to the legislature: “This bill does not pass the equity test. It clearly discriminates against one group of public — school children in an effort to defund and drain the correspondence programs.”

There are 34 correspondence/home school districts in Alaska. These districts provide educational choice for more 22,289 students this school year. 

This is more than 17% of the total K-12 students in Alaska. And it is with fear that school districts are seeing more parents opting for home school over their failing brick and mortar schools.  

The State saves lots of money by parents enrolling their students in a correspondence program. So, how are parents and their students being short-changed when it comes to funding from the State of Alaska?

It all comes down to the formula that funds K-12 education. Brick & mortar students end up being multiplied while correspondence students are reduced by 10%. That means a brick & mortar student is “worth” more than a correspondence student.

This is how the student counts compare for school year 2023-24 (ADM is the Average Daily Membership or actual student count, AADM is the Adjusted ADM):

Some of the correspondence schools are part of the brick-and-mortar school districts while others are unique districts by themselves.

Another way to look at it is a correspondence student is only valued at 90% of the Base Student Allocation.  So, that student is only worth $5,364 and no more. But the brick & mortar student gets multiplicative factors such as, “special needs”, CTE, and intensive services that are in the funding formula.

Here is a listing of the correspondence schools with the largest student populations, the number of students, and correspondence student state funding only:

(*indicates the district has more than one correspondence school).

 (**90% of the Base Student Allocation times the actual number of students). 

What would happen if the home school parents took all 22,289 of their children out of the correspondence programs?  Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and the MatSu would lose about $38 million.

That is a very powerful number. And that threat by many home school families is valid. Here is a quote from a parent’s testimony to the legislature:

“There are many reasons we choose to homeschool. Should these changes pass, we will not be putting our kids in brick-and-mortar schools, or even the correspondence schools with these unfathomable changes to the AK constitution. I will independently homeschool. I will say again, the government doesn’t own my children. Please, oppose SB 266 and HB400”.

Here’s one more chart that compares the per student costs for correspondence students versus the per student costs for brick & mortar students:

As you can see, home school families save the State of Alaska tons of money while still tailoring learning plans to each individual’s needs. 

Hypothetically, if the correspondence program were discontinued and all the students joined the brick & mortar schools, then the State would have to come up with millions more dollars to fund those schools. Using the Anchorage per student cost that increase would be about $371,981,121.

And what would that number really be if the education industry’s chant of “raise the BSA” were to happen?

Home school parents have saved the State of Alaska millions of dollars over the years.

Home school parents have the power and leverage to control the outcomes in this battle for their children’s futures.

This is a battle for funding equity and parental choice which pits the education industry and the NEA-AK against parents.

Every one of the 22,289 correspondence students is not just a number. Every one is a person who wants a future where he/she can be prosperous, happy and a productive member of this great nation.

This parent’s testimony to the legislature sums up the feelings of most home school parents: 

“I will not consider educating my children in our neighborhood schools and will not hesitate to remove my children from the public school system entirely in order to meet their educational needs”.

And one more parent’s testimony:

“Don’t let anti-homeschooling legislators and the teacher’s union damage educational freedom here in Alaska”.

You, too, can help decide who wins this battle.  Join the parents as the hornets that Zeman kicked now swarm to protect the home school programs in Alaska.