Senate Bill 58/House Bill 78 Propose Increase to Correspondence Program Funding
Photo courtesy of Jimmiehomeschoolmom/Creative Commons.
By Ivy Catledge
On March 3, 2021, previous principal of Glennallen Elementary, Michael Johnson, Ph.D., Commissioner, Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) introduced Senate Bill 58/House Bill 78: Funding of Correspondence Programs to the Alaska State Legislature.
This bill would address the funding for homeschooling and other correspondence programs managed by Alaska school districts, such as our valley’s own home education program, Upstream Learning. If passed, the bill would increase the correspondence student average daily membership (ADM) from 90% of what brick and mortar students receive per student from the State to the full amount. The estimated cost to the State would be approximately $35.5 million, and the bill would take effect on July 1st of this year.
As you might have guessed, Upstream Learning fully supports this bill. In a brochure made by the program, they highlighted three important benefits that Dr. Johnson also presented to the legislature:
• Provides long-term sustainability for CRSD.
• Provides flexibility and funds innovations for educators.
• Provides a pathway for families to remain connected to their local schools and districts.
To further their efforts to pass SB58/HB78, Upstream Learning reached out to the CRSD school board for their support of the bill. The board complied by rafting a resolution advocating for the passage of the bill to fund correspondence schools at the same rate as brick and mortar schools.
As of now, both Senate and House versions of the bill are waiting for hearings in each body’s Education Committee. When asked about the bills, District 6 Rep. Mike Cronk said that he intends to support them. “Especially during this pandemic,” Cronk started, “more and more kids are choosing correspondence schools. I believe this funding is necessary to match the number of kids entering home school.”
Cronk went on to explain that the bills still need to go through a number of committees and collect votes before anything takes effect. When asked about the probability of meeting the bill’s July 1st effective date, he responded, “Unless things get moving pretty fast, I’m not sure that’s an obtainable goal, but you never know how fast or slow these things can move along.”
Currently, the Senate version of the bill is still in the education committee. If the education committee passes it along, it will head to the finance committee.
As a member of the latter group, Sen. Click Bishop will weigh in on the bill at that time. At this moment, he has not formed an opinion on the bill and has not received input about it from local constituents.
Feedback from Rep. Rauscher and Sen. Shower was still pending at press time.
Rep. Rauscher can be reached at 907-465-4859 or Representative.George.Rauscher@akleg.gov.
Sen. Shower can be reached at 907-465-6600 or Senator.Mike.Shower@akleg.gov.
Rep. Cronk can be reached at 907-465-4527 or Representative.Mike.Cronk@akleg.gov.
Sen. Bishop can be reached at 907-465-2327 or Senator. Click.Bishop@akleg.gov.
Catch up on other bills from the current legislative session with:
32nd Alaska State Legislature Snapshot: Senate Edition
32nd Alaska State Legislature Snapshot: House Edition
