Parents caught off guard by court ruling on homeschool funding

Wrangell parents of homeschooled children enrolled in correspondence programs said they were caught by surprise when an Alaska judge ruled unconstitutional the use of state funds for such programs.

The law allowed parents of correspondence students to spend their share of state education money, labeled an allotment, on “nonsectarian services and materials from a public, private or religious organization.”

The judge on April 12 ruled the law unconstitutional because it allowed public funding to go to private and religious organizations. The judge explained he could not split the state statute in half and block public funds for private and religious organizations while allowing the money to continue flowing to non-religious and public school district programs.

Jamie Roberts, a Wrangell parent who homeschools her kids, received a letter from her homeschool April 16 about the court ruling. “It wasn’t something that was even on my radar,” she said.

Kristy Woodbury, another homeschool parent, had a similar reaction.

Roberts uses the correspondence school PACE, while Woodbury uses IDEA. Neither program allows allotment funds to go toward religious purchases.

“PACE has a stipulation that you cannot use any of the allotment money for purchasing religious educational materials,” Roberts said.

PACE, which is operated by the Craig School District, also staffs learning centers in Ketchikan, Anchorage and Wasilla.

IDEA, with more than 7,000 homeschooled students statewide, is operated by the Galena City School District in the Yukon River community, west of Fairbanks.

Roberts said she didn’t fully understand the ruling, or why it came about now – sentiments shared across much of the state. More than 22,000 students are enrolled in correspondence programs, about one in six school-age children in the state.

There are more than two dozen correspondence programs operated by school districts in Alaska. Students can enroll in programs outside their community.

The Wrangell School District does not offer a correspondence program.

Roberts and Woodbury both received letters from their correspondence programs following the court ruling, assuring them that their kids’ educations would not be impacted.

The state will appeal the ruling, and all of the parties in the lawsuit have asked that the court stay the order until at least the end of this school year while the appeal is underway.

But Roberts still expressed concern over the ruling and worries it will result in a loss of educational options and access. “I feel for the rural areas especially,” she added, noting that homeschooling and correspondence schools provide more access to education in an area with otherwise minimal options.

The allotment from her correspondence school is what allowed Roberts to homeschool her kids. Without the allotment, she said there is no way she could afford homeschooling. “It gets expensive,” she said, “especially as the kids get older.”

The allotments allowed her to purchase curriculum and also pay for technology like computers and science materials.

Roberts said PACE provides an allotment for parents to purchase materials and curriculum. For highschoolers, the allotment is $2,600 per student.

IDEA pays an allotment of $2,700 per student, which parents can spend on education-related expenses.

The state pays school districts about $5,300 per student enrolled in correspondence. The amount that districts hand over to parents varies; the highest allotments are as much as $4,500 of the state money. Several religious organizations in Alaska have promoted themselves for parents who want to spend their allotment money on educational materials or programs offered by the churches or their affiliates.

When Roberts began homeschooling her kids, it was for logistical reasons. She lived out the road when her oldest was in kindergarten and there wasn’t a bus that went out there, nor did she have neighbors to carpool with or family members around to babysit. There were also limited daycare options in town for the summer when her kids wouldn’t be in school.

Financially and logistically, she said, it just made sense to stay home and care for her kids, and she figured she may as well teach them too.

Originally, Roberts had only planned to homeschool her kids for kindergarten, but as they got older she found that homeschooling provided them with more options. “There is only so much curriculum offered at public school,” she said.

Some of the classes her kids were able to take through homeschooling included environmental science, botany, astronomy, essay writing, piano and violin lessons and swimming that counted as physical education credit.

Homeschooling offered more of a build-your-own curriculum style, which Roberts believes made her kids more engaged in their education. “When they have more choices, it leads to more engagement because they are able to learn about the things they are most interested in.”

 

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