Alaska State Legislature

News From The House Majority

Ken Freeman, Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Part-time Students in Public Schools

Discussed By House Committee

For Immediate Release: March 12, 1997 Contact: Rep. Fred Dyson (907) 465-2199

JUNEAU -- Legislation to allow students to enroll in public schools on a part-time basis, including students attending private, correspondence, or home schools will be before the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee Thursday, March 13, 1997.

Representative Fred Dyson (R-Anchorage), sponsor of HB 158, said the bill makes changes to Alaska's Administrative Code to ensure students may attend public school part-time, without discrimination.

"There have been instances in my district in which students who are primarily receiving their education at home or from a private institution wish to attend public schooling part-time in order to attend classes not offered at home or in a private school and have been turned away," said Dyson.

"State statute currently allows part-time attendance. The problem exists in the 1995 Alaska Administrative Code which gives school districts the option of not allowing part-time students," said Dyson.

"HB 158 would not allow schools to discriminate between students taking all their classes at the public school and those who need certain classes which are not offered in their institutions of choice," said Dyson.

"Property taxes, used toward education costs, are not selective among tax-paying individuals - neither should the schools," said Dyson.

"Private schools and home-schooling sometimes cannot provide every aspect of the appropriate curriculum. When students wish to attend computer or science labs at a public school for instance, they should not be turned away," said Dyson.

The House Health, Education and Social Services Committee will meet March 13 at 3:00 p.m. in room 106 of the State Capitol.

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