Weekly Star Editorial for May 1, 1997

Legislation Closer to Ending Anchorage School District's Discrimination Against Part-Time Students

Legislation to prohibit discrimination in public schools against part-time students attending private, correspondence, or home schools, was passed unanimously by the Alaska State House of Representatives on Friday.

The Anchorage School District appears to be the only district in the state that, as a matter of policy, discriminates against part-time students.

In most other districts, correspondence, home, and private schools are permitted and, in some districts, greatly encouraged to take whatever public school courses they choose. The Alaska regulations allow for schools to be reimbursed for the part-time students through credit toward a full-time student for the state foundation formula.

Mat-Su, Fairbanks, and Sitka School Districts encourage part-time students to take public school classes, use school facilities, and even provide tutors. The Anchorage School District (ASD), on the other hand, refuses any participation by any students who is not full-time in their system.

ASD reasons that allowing a part-time students into a school is an assault on the constitution because the student might attend a private school, that might have connections to a sectarian organization, that might get secondary benefit. The argument that teaching a kid in a public school unconstitutionally benefits a church follows a line of logic that is unrecognizable to me. The State Attorney General and Legislative Legal Council believe part-time students are no constitutional threat; most other school districts have been educating these kids for decades and the Constitution has survived.

ASD's argument seems to be little more than a thinly veiled attempt to protect their turf; they won't even accept kids who are involved in the State correspondence courses.

The state teachers union has no problem with it because most teachers in the state are delighted to teach any kid who comes in the door everywhere, but Anchorage, that is.

The State Board of Education and the Alaska State House of Representatives have all unanimously endorsed HB 158, ending discrimination in Anchorage Schools. The bill was referred to the Senate HESS Committee on Monday and will likely get a public hearing on Friday. We will keep you posted.

I can be reached by phone, (800) 342-2199 or (907) 465-2199; by mail, State Capitol Building, Room 428, Juneau, AK 99801; or via the Internet, Representative_Fred_Dyson@legis.state.ak.us. You can also send us information via the Public Opinion Messages (POMs) by calling the Legislative Information Office at 258-8111 (TTY 258-8173).