A charter school’s administration is subject to the Academic Policy Committee (APC) which is then accountable to the ASD School Board. The APC at Frontier is made up of parents, a non-staff teacher, a student and a member of the business community. Budgeting and financial priorities are the responsibilities of the APC.

So, let’s say an Anchorage parent in each of these programs notices that $4.3 million dollars of the annual budget is not being used for student accounts and services but for a rainy day slush fund. They rightfully think that is unfair. The state grants this money per student in a Base Student Allocation (BSA) and the students are not receiving the full benefit of that money. What are the recourses in each of these schools?

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First, let’s consider the two types of accountability that are in action here. What AHEA describes is not local control but site-based management. Each family manages the delivery system of their child’s learning plan. I am all for that! This is where the in-district and SWC schools are in complete agreement. That is really homeschooling defined for our state; the parent manages and delivers the education. This is why I also agree with the AHEA that parent-purchased sectarian materials aligned with state standards are acceptable for a child’s learning plan.

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• Glenn Biegel in his statement pointed out that 41 districts have no in-district program. My comment is most of them did at one time but the statewide schools have caused them to close. In effect, statewide schools have reduced choices.
• Narda Butler, chairman of Frontier’s APC and my co-blogger, discussed how local control works for Frontier and that state oversight is necessary for statewide schools. She also pointed out that the statewide correspondence schools (SWC) operate to fund their local districts and are motivated to maximize enrollment not services.

The real news of the work session came from Eddie Jeans, Director of Finance. He detailed revenues and expenditures for SWC schools. When schools were first opened each student was funded at $3152 and today the amount is $4340, a 38% increase. Yet, the student allotments have changed very little. OK, we knew that but the big “We told you so” moment came with his chart that showed that last year Galena’s IDEA program generated a whopping $4,359,477 to the Galena City Schools. I added a column to Mr. Jeans’ chart to calculate ‘profit’ margin. Galena has it figured out. They generate 31%. Wow! That’s Warren Buffet territory.

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Families who are in Galena’s Interior Distance Education of Alaska (IDEA) program are adamant that the motives are entirely altruistic. That is, they enrolled over 3600 students in SY2006/2007 because they ‘care about homeschoolers.’ As John Stossel says, “Give me a break.”

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Here are the pertinents. Alaska Home Educators Alliance (AHEA) has issued a ‘call to arms’ to confront the State Board of Ed. and the Palin administration over two regulatory issues that pertain to statewide correspondence schools operated by local districts. These are:

• A 15% limitation on spending for fine arts and physical education
• A prohibition on using parent-purchased sectarian materials as part of a student’s learning plan

One of AHEA’s board members has publicly blamed the teachers’ unions as the culprits in these regs that have been in effect for a couple years. Now, I think the NEA and AFT can be blamed for a lot of stuff but they are innocent of this charge. The issues are far, far more complicated than blaming a union. Without tedious narrative I’ll say that the crux is local control of schools and of funding.

In their letter to Esther Cox, School Board Chairman, AHEA asks for a voice in a work session between the Dept. of Ed and the Board regarding these regulations. They claim to represent the almost 10,000 homeschooled students and their 19,000 parents. That’s a pretty presumptuous claim. So, I’m here to raise my small voice to say they don’t represent me or my husband or my one homeschooled child. In effect, they are quite opposed to what we have worked for in the Alaska charter school movement.

Tim Scott recommends a secondary tool that can be used to confirm the results. It is available from the University Learning Center at the University of Arizona (UA). Two self-assessment tools are provided on this site, a Learning Style Assessment and a Learning Style Profile Generator. The first will roughly identify learning modality while the latter gives valuable tips to develop habits and routines for effective study habits. Frontier’s staff has found this to be a great tool to confirm a learning style and especially to show parents and students how to develop teaching and study methods.

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Primary responsibility for education lies with the parent who designs a learning plan or curriculum that fits their child. The parent is free to pick and choose materials, schedules or even services for the child whose learning is based at home.

It does not mean complete separation from any public agency involvement. I understand that to many homeschoolers Outside (lower 48) it does mean complete separation. But I use the term as commonly used here in the Great Land.

When I say Alaska offers the best of both worlds it means that a family that wants to homeschool independently without State involvement is completely free to do so. Or, if a family wants to participate in a public homeschool program they are completely free to make that choice as well. This freedom of choice gives us the best of both worlds, independent or enrolled in a program.

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