AKLEG Day 94: Education dividend
In the wake of the home school ruling, Dunleavy sees an opportunity to break down the constitutional barrier that has stopped him from implementing school vouchers.
It’s Thursday, Alaska.
In this edition: In the wake of a Superior Court judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s home school allotment program—which some had used to subsidize their children’s education at private and religious schools—as unconstitutional, many legislators across the political spectrum have signaled interest in restoring the guardrails necessary to make the program pass constitutional muster. But following Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Wednesday news conference, where he floated wild plans to continue the practice regardless of what the Alaska Constitution says, that might be easier said than done. It seems Dunleavy and his allies see this whole debacle as an opportunity to finally break down the constitutional barrier that has stopped them from implementing school vouchers, and they are willing to gamble.
Education dividend
Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General Treg Taylor may not fully understand a judge’s decision to strike down their decade-in-the-making plan to unconstitutionally funnel home school dollars into private and religious schools—a point they reiterated several times during Wednesday’s rambling hour-long news conference—but they were clear about one thing: They would do everything in their power to allow the spending to continue.
The governor foreshadowed plans to appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, a costly and years-long process that would likely only be resolved after he’s term-limited out. That much was expected, but he also floated other ways to continue sending public dollars into religious and private schools, such as creating an “education dividend” just for home-school students or plundering the state’s post-secondary education scholarship fund for a “K-14 scholarship.” While many Republicans have recoiled at the revelations public school dollars are subsidizing private and religious schools in violation of the Alaska Constitution, Dunleavy and Taylor gave it a full-throated endorsement.
“Do I support the purchasing of coursework from private and religious outfits to underwrite the public education of kids? Yes,” the governor said. “Did I support vouchers going directly to private outfits? Yes. Why do I do that? Because I want to make sure that every kid in the state of Alaska has a quality education that meets their needs.”
The governor struck his usual confrontational tone throughout the news conference, accusing the teacher unions of a power grab because they’re jealous that home school enrollment has grown—which, now I’m thinking about it, is likely driven at least in part by the rise of religious private school students enrolling in home school programs with the sole purpose of using the allotment as a private school subsidy. The only reason they’re there is to get the state money for something they would have already been paying for themselves, but, according to the governor, that’s a good thing and shows that “school choice” is popular.
But, as this lawsuit has demonstrated, the “school choice” Dunleavy holds in such high esteem turns out to be the state picking up part of the tab for families with the means to cover the remaining tuition costs at religious and private schools.
Still, the blame game is a potent message for the GOP that preys upon the conspiratorial animosity that Dunleavy and Republicans have long fomented against public schools, with everything from misleading presentations about funding to outright attacks on districts and teachers with ludicrous claims that they’re attempting to indoctrinate children or worse.
Much of the news conference was dedicated to such fearmongering. Despite their repeated concessions that they had little understanding of the five-day-old order, Dunleavy and Taylor were apocalyptic in their assessment. Taylor claimed, incredibly, that the ruling is so broad that it could very well result in public schools being unable to buy textbooks, laptops or paper towels. Dunleavy said it could be the end of home schooling altogether.
Lost among the governor’s hyperbole is the fact that the ruling isn’t about the home school allotment in its entirety but the fatally unconstitutional changes that Sen. Mike Dunleavy made to the law in 2014, which explicitly allowed allotments to go to religious and private schools with little oversight. It was part of his failed fight over vouchers, a point he now disputes. The Legislature could remedy the situation with a new law to update the home school allotment program, removing the unconstitutional language and returning oversight to ensure no one can so brazenly violate the Alaska Constitution.
The reason that the governor and his administration refuse to be straight with Alaska about how this case came about or be forthcoming with realistic solutions is likely because they see this as an opportunity to press their luck, gambling with the entirety of the home school program—most of whom have done nothing wrong—in hopes of breaking down the constitutional barrier that has stopped Republicans from implementing a direct voucher program.
Instead of a quick, straightforward fix to remedy the constitutional issues with a law that allowed allotments to directly benefit private and religious schools, the governor and his allies are entertaining wildly unrealistic solutions like a supplemental education dividend that would go to a select group of students—all in the name of continuing to defy the Alaska Constitution with a wink and a nod.
While the governor will try to rally home school families to his cause of throwing the doors open to public spending on private and religious schooling, he’s the one standing in the way of a workable solution with talk already of a summer special session on his ideas. The Senate has already signaled disinterest in the radical overhaul of Alaska’s education policy, which would be contained in a constitutional amendment, but has committed to a quick and straightforward resolution.
One that is constitutional.
Stay tuned.
Follow the thread: Dunleavy’s home school funding news conference
The goods: Judge Zeman’s ruling striking down home school allotments
More goods: The AG opinion that said everything was fine
Tayor , should be censured & hopefully disbarred. Dunleavy arrested foragal use of
public funds. Dunleavy and Taylor are really hoping for Akasns to to be passive on all this
BS. They both need to be clobbered. Kathrin
Dinleavey has already amended the state constitution in his mind.