Should Alaska have more charter schools? The answer is yes and no

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In a state that often comes close to dead last in school rankings across the country, Alaska had a win — or so it appears.

“Lo and behold, we are tops in the nation. You would think you would hear parade music and people dancing in the streets. But in some sectors, this has caused a problem because it doesn’t fit the narrative,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said last month. “‘How could this be? How could Alaska be performing well? This is going to screw things up because we have our usual approach to education in Juneau.’”

Dunleavy has repeatedly touted a national study published last fall that ranks Alaska’s charter schools as No. 1 in the nation, in contrast to other public schools in the state.

Charter schools are public schools that are independently run, usually by parents, teachers, and school leadership.

But is the governor presenting a full picture?

Even the researchers on the study said more research is needed before making assumptions.

“We don’t have much information on why,” Professor Paul Peterson, director of Harvard’s education policy and governance program, said during a Zoom call.

Peterson says his team was surprised by the results putting Alaska on top and went back to check the data to make sure they’d accounted for a range of possible anomalies, but the numbers held up, giving Alaska and the governor real bragging rights.

Diana Hirshberg, director of the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, agrees that while the study is positive, the data does not explain why the state’s charter schools do so well or how the numbers can be replicated if new charter schools are opened as Dunleavy wants.

“He is taking a report where the authors themselves say, ‘We really need to dig into what’s going on,’ and he is instead trying to build a program based on that,” Hirshberg said. “We really don’t know why those few charter schools that serve children from lower income backgrounds are really successful.”

Going back to the beginning of his political career, the governor has advocated for and encouraged more charter schools, as well as additional money and opportunities for other educational offerings outside traditional public schools, including homeschooling and more public money for religiously affiliated education programs.

When he ran for the school board in the Mat-Su in 2009, Dunleavy told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman that additional charter schools would be part of his priorities.

“Yes. Any program that assists children in attaining a quality education should be part of the school district’s opportunities,” he responded in a questionnaire at the time.

While in the legislature, Dunleavy favored changing the state’s constitution to make some of those options legal.

Article VII, Section 1, of the Alaska Constitution states, “No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”

In 2013, Dunleavy wanted to amend the constitution by deleting that line.

Across the country, the debate over the best ways to educate children has become particularly heated around the issue of charter schools. Some argue charter schools often perform better because their students typically come from wealthier, extremely involved families who can provide transportation and are heavily invested in their children’s education.

A study by the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes at Stanford University has shown that charter school students have begun outpacing their peers in traditional public schools.

Charter schools use public taxpayer money, but are run independently from district schools.

Critics also say charter schools can worsen existing disparities and draw resources away from traditional public schools.

In Alaska, a child lotteries into a program, almost always with the understanding that parents will provide transportation and be involved with the school in a volunteer capacity. Most charter schools are in urban areas and more than 60% of those students are white, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Parents often choose charter schools because of incentives such as a focus on learning a second language, or making sure Alaska Native cultural studies is a top priority, or education based on STEM initiatives.

According to the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development, charter schools cannot be religious schools.

“The Charter School Act requires a charter school to be nonsectarian. This is the same rule that applies to all public schools,” a fact sheet on the department’s website reads.

In Anchorage, there are eight public charter schools operating in the Anchorage School District, serving approximately 2,500 students.

Alaska has a total of 31 charter schools with an estimated 7,621 students, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools which provides data as recently as 2021.

It leads back to the question; should Alaska invest in more charter schools?

“Our study just simply shows that the existing sector looks quite strong when you compare it to other states across the country,” Peterson said. “Whether or not it would remain as strong, if it is a larger sector ... is a judgment decision that we don’t have any direct information on.”

Hrschberg points out that, for the most part, parental involvement in children’s education was key to Alaska’s success.

“It’s not about the potential that the children have to learn and to excel, but it is about having someone in their family who’s really focused on education,” Hirshberg said. “Often the parents who aren’t focused on that, it gets misinterpreted that they don’t care, as opposed to ... they simply are trying to make sure they’re keeping their families fed, their children clothed, and a roof over their head. And I think that’s a real struggle ... and if you look at charter schools, the overall socioeconomic indicators — with one exception — are higher than the average for the district.”

The Harvard study did show that non-white students in Alaska charter schools performed well and that students in a Title I public charter school, which means students qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches, also had good test results.

Alaska Native Cultural Charter School is a Title I public charter school.

“They are incredibly good schools, and what they are is the argument for how do we provide innovative educational opportunities to every child regardless of whether the parent has the time to transport them, or the means to transport them, or even the time to choose something other than the neighborhood school,” Hirshberg said.

Yet another contentious issue in Alaska, Dunleavy has called for more state control over establishing new charter schools.

Local educators oppose that.

Peterson says in other states, central control over the charter process has proven successful. But he notes Alaska might be a different story, given the success of the state’s locally controlled charter schools.

School administrators across Alaska say they are facing a budget crisis and the governor’s focus on charter schools does not address the largest problem facing public schools in the state. The Base Student Allocation has not been substantially raised since 2017.

Dunleavy has said he would veto an education bill passed by the state legislature if it only increases public school funding and isn’t part of a broader package, including his call for expanded charter schooling.

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