Alaska News

School choice supporters turn Anchorage education meeting feisty

Do you pick where you go to shop for groceries? Or go out of your way to find your favorite coffee stand? If you do, then the Alaska Policy Forum argues that the same principle should be applied to where you send your kids to school.

"Why does the government have the right to tell you what school to go to just because you live in a particular zip code?" said the forum's executive director, David Boyle, at a well-attended meeting on the contentious topic of school choice in Alaska held Tuesday night in a Southside church.

"Isn't education more important than coffee or groceries?" he asked.

What he found were some mixed reactions. About 65 people attended the meeting at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church Tuesday night, in the heart of the private school's gymnasium. Many enthusiastically supported calls from the policy forum to expand school choice -- a controversial plan to allow public funds to be allocated to private schools, including religious schools. Some wore bright yellow scarves that were handed out at the meeting, embroidered with a school choice week logo, and clapped and cheered when people spoke in favor of allowing public dollars to be put toward the private schools. Others, a much smaller minority at the event, cheered the other way, supporting those who questioned how the the vouchers would be funded or how it would impact already troubled schools.

Those funding questions still need to be worked out, according to Tom Fink, former Anchorage mayor and state representative. Both he and Boyle emphasized that the proposed legislation only addresses the constitutional question of whether public funds can fund private education. Only after it's passed would the legislature be able to go back and allocate funds.

Last week, in his State of the State Address, Gov. Sean Parnell called for this year's legislative session to be what he termed the "education session." He rolled out a comprehensive education bill that would increase access to charter schools, enhance opportunities for residential schools and increase the base student allocation -- the formula that dictates how much money goes to each school for each student.

He also endorsed an amendment which would change the Alaska Constitution to include public funding for private schools. Currently, the constitution specifically prohibits funds from going to religious and private schooling institutions.

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Allison Smith supports the amendment. A mother of five, with children receiving both private and public education, she said she found limitations of public schools frustrating at times. When asked to tour Goldenview Middle School in Anchorage, she was told she wasn't allowed to. It was something that frustrated her and made her question what came first: What was best for the student or what was best for the school?

"My decision isn't based on vouchers, it's based on what's best for the child," she said.

Boyle, of the policy forum, suggests that increased access to school choice will force the schools to become more competitive, like businesses, and therefore, lift them all up.

But teacher Jake Todd had a fundamental disagreement with that. He works at Service High School with at-risk youth. He noted that school district already has school choice programs, like International Baccalaureate and School-Within-a-School. Just moving the funding into private schools will only limit funding to public schools, which are already strained, he noted. Last year at Service they lost a graduation support coach that worked with at-risk youth. Todd said at Service, 10 percent of the graduating class were often needy students supported by that coach.

"Do you think (that number) will be that high this year?" he asked the audience. "Probably not."

After Todd spoke, one man aggressively got in his face, and criticized him for speaking out against the amendment. Another woman brought him a note thanking him.

Lisa Paesani has three children in public school right now -- one at Romig Middle and two at West High School. She said while she thinks people in support of the amendment have good intentions, she opposes it. She doesn't agree that the increased competition will make public schools better. She worries that if anything, the change will cause more funds to be diverted from public schools, only making them weaker. If that's the case, what will be the incentive for people looking to come to Alaska for jobs?

"They aren't going to come if our schools are tanking," she said.

Bill Walker sat in on the Tuesday night conversation. Walker, who's running for governor as an independent, said he liked the concept of allowing school choice. But with the state facing a $2 billion deficit, he said it's irresponsible to consider something like school choice without looking at the economics of it. A report from the Legislative Research Reports commissioned by Sen. Berta Gardner concluded that if private school students were factored into the base student allocation, the budget would increase by $99.7 million.

With no stable fiscal plan that gets Alaska out of debt, Walker said, he sees no reason to consider the issue now.

"I like the idea, but first we have to get our house in order," he said.

Suzanna Caldwell

Suzanna Caldwell is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in 2017.

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