Part IV of Taking Back Alaska Series
By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO
On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating the dismantling of the US Department of Education, aiming to transfer educational authority back to states and local entities. While the order seeks to reduce the department’s size and scope, eliminating it entirely requires congressional approval. Essential functions like administering student loans and Pell Grants are to be reassigned to other agencies.
In Alaska, the Alaska State Legislature is exploring alternative taxation methods to fund state services due to fluctuating oil revenues and prices. The legislature is requiring a more stable financial foundation. One proposal, the Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act (MRAK, February 21, 2025, Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act Would Establish Parent Education Accounts And More), aims to reduce educational expenses by eliminating bureaucratic overhead and empowering parents with direct control over education funding. This approach seeks to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the state’s education system.
The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act is designed to decentralize the education system, shift control to local communities, empower parents with school choice, and eliminate wasteful bureaucracy. The primary goals of this act are increasing educational outcomes, reducing government overreach, and saving taxpayer dollars.
The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development established in Alaska since statehood.
That was then. Now is now.
Instead of relying on a state-controlled, top-down bureaucracy, Alaska can replace DEED with a streamlined, technology-driven education system that is decentralized, efficient, and parent-controlled.
Key Elements of the Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act
1. Eliminate the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED)
DEED is a bureaucratic middleman that consumes hundreds of millions of dollars but does not directly educate children. It is antiquated. There is no need in government for this, especially in the coming years of possible oil production and/or price decline. It adds layers of unnecessary administrative costs, enforces rigid compliance structures, and slows educational innovation.
For decades, Alaska’s education system has been dominated by a centralized bureaucracy that serves itself rather than the students it claims to educate. At its core, this system is not about fostering knowledge, critical thinking, or preparing children for the real world. Instead, it regulates, restricts, and inefficiently redistributes funds, ensuring that money is absorbed by layers of administrators, compliance officers, and political interests rather than making its way into classrooms.
Simply put, it is not an education system. It is a system of control, power, and obsolescence.
It controls the flow of funding by deciding which schools, programs, and initiatives receive financial support. The bad news is that these decisions are not based on student performance, and the worse news is that the unelected policymakers making these decisions are only bound by their own bureaucratic rules, not by accountability to voters or outcomes.
What’s more egregious is Alaska school districts restrict curriculum choices. This legal action ensures that what students learn is dictated by political agendas rather than educational merit or local community needs. This oppresses the intellectual, social, and behavioral development of children, shaping their worldview through a system designed not to teach independent thought, but to enforce ideological conformity.
This top-down system is not driven by parents, teachers, or students. Instead, it is crafted by legislative mandates, education unions, and special interest groups that prioritize power and funding over real learning. It is a political apparatus first, a money laundering machine second, and an educational system third.
If Alaska is serious about providing a world-class education for its children, it must dismantle this bureaucratic stranglehold and return control of education to the people who care most about it—parents, teachers, and local communities.
Restoring Education to Alaskans: The Case for the Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act
For too long, Alaska’s education system has been trapped in a bureaucratic stranglehold, where state-controlled school districts and administrative overhead siphon resources away from students and teachers. Instead of focusing on academic excellence, the system has become an expensive, inefficient, and politically driven enterprise. Without any shame, it prioritizes compliance over creativity, regulation over results, and bureaucracy over students.
The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act is a bold step toward breaking this cycle of inefficiency and returning education to the people it should serve, parents, teachers, and students. At its core, the act proposes the complete elimination of school districts, which have become nothing more than layers of unnecessary administration that drain funding, limit school choice, and force children into failing educational models based on geography rather than merit or preference.
Instead of maintaining a state-run monopoly on education, this reform places control where it belongs: in the hands of parents. Through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), families will receive direct education funding, allowing them to choose the best learning environment for their children, whether that be public schools, private schools, charter schools, homeschooling, microschools, or hybrid learning programs.
This reform is built on three fundamental principles:
- Decentralization: Moves power away from distant bureaucrats to local communities, parents, and educators. No more top-down mandates from education unions and state departments that do not reflect the needs of Alaska’s diverse student population.
- Cost Reduction: Eliminates bloated school district administration, cutting millions in unnecessary spending and ensuring that funds go directly to students, not bureaucrats.
- Parental Control Over Education: Allows parents, not the state, to determine how and where their children are educated. This ensures that every child has access to an education that fits their unique learning style, values, and future goals.
Education should be about empowering students, not sustaining bureaucracies.
The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act ensures that resources follow students, not systems, thus ushering in a new era of educational choice, fiscal responsibility, and academic excellence for all Alaskans.
The Problem: School District Bureaucracy Wastes Money and Lowers Educational Quality
- Alaska has 54 school districts, each with its own administrative bureaucracy.
- A significant portion of education funding never reaches the classroom. Money is spent on district-level administrators, consultants, and compliance officers rather than students.
- Public schools are monopolistic and unaccountable. Families must send their children to a school dictated by their ZIP code rather than choosing the best fit for their needs.
- State and federal education mandates force compliance, not innovation. Schools spend millions on bureaucratic paperwork instead of improving teaching.
- Student performance in Alaska lags behind national standards. Despite massive spending, academic results remain poor, especially in rural communities.
In short, Alaska’s education system spends excessively but underperforms.
The Solution: Abolish School Districts and Implement Universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
- Dissolve all 54 school districts and eliminate district offices entirely.
- Redirect all per-student funding directly to parents through ESAs, giving them full control over how to educate their children.
- Allow families to use ESA funds for:
- 1) Private school tuition
- 2) Charter school enrollment
- 3) Homeschooling costs
- 4) Microschooling
- 5) Online learning programs
- 6) Tutoring services
- 5) Online learning programs
- 4) Microschooling
- Empower local communities to establish independent schools without state interference.
- 3) Homeschooling costs
- 2) Charter school enrollment
- 1) Private school tuition
- Free teachers from district bureaucracy by allowing them to start private, charter, or independent schools without unnecessary red tape.
Education should be student-focused, not district-focused.
The Impact: Better Education, More Choice, and Millions in Estimated Savings
The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage reported that in 2022, Alaska’s per-pupil spending was $20,191, which was 29% higher than the national average of $15,633.
Alaska currently spends over $18,000 per student—one of the highest rates in the country. By eliminating bloated district bureaucracy, more money would go directly to students and teachers.
Streamlining educational administration in Alaska by eliminating non-teaching entities could result in substantial financial savings for the state. This approach involves reducing administrative components within the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), dissolving all 54 Alaska school districts along with their administrative bodies, and cutting costs associated with federal mandate compliance and state-imposed education regulations. Additionally, eliminating organizations such as the Alaska State Board of Education, the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, and the Alaska Professional Teaching Practices Commission would further contribute to these savings.
By directing education funds more efficiently and minimizing bureaucratic layers, Alaska could potentially save millions of dollars, ensuring that a larger portion of the budget directly benefits students and classroom activities.
These estimates suggest that the Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act could potentially save millions annually by restructuring the educational administrative framework and promoting localized control.
Educational Impact: More Flexibility and Higher Performance
- Parents would have direct control over their child’s education.
- Students would no longer be forced into failing schools based on ZIP codes.
Schools would compete for students, leading to improved teaching and innovation.
Homeschooling, microschools, and online education would be fully funded.
Local Control Impact: True Community-Based Education
- Each town, city, or borough could establish its own locally run schools.
- No more state or federal mandates on school operations.
- Education would reflect community values, not state-imposed regulations.
- Alaska has outgrown a centralized school system. Parents, teachers, and students should control education—not bureaucrats.
The Future of Education in Alaska: True Freedom and Excellence
- No more school districts wasting millions on administrative bloat.
- No more politicians controlling what children are taught.
- No more failing schools trapping students in mediocrity.
With Education Savings Accounts, parents will decide how and where their children learn. Competition will drive quality, costs will go down, and educational excellence will rise.
Alaska must lead the nation in true education freedom. The time for reform is NOW.
Michael Tavoliero writes for Must Read Alaska.
When comparing State budgets and cost of living, Mississippi funds education per pupil significantly more than Alaska as a percentage of the State budget. Perhaps that is why Mississippi test scores are better?
Frank, Mississippi ranks 30th in the Nation for education while spending a little over 9 grand per student. Alaska spends 22 grand and ranks 51st…
Obviously throwing more $ at a failed and corrupt system isn’t going to improve the statistics above.
Where are you finding that ‘info”?
‘https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#ak
Frank Jeffries wrote an opinion piece in thye ADN on March 17th
Oh Frank.
Really? Trying to quote the failing and remnant Anchorage Daily Worker as a reputable source of honest information?
I will give you this, though: you were just as much a pro-establishment lemming and conformist troll in the ADN comment section, when the ADN actually HAD an online comment section, as you regularly are here. The radical leftist extremist leopard never changes his spots.
Unfortunately the legislators in Juneau believe that the unions knows what’s best for our children. We will never get control of our education system until we get control of our election ssystem.we elect unethical traitorous Republicans and they change party loyalty after elected. We must be able to remove any unethical politicians who lies to get elected.
Sounds pretty good But greedy Democrats won’t go for it
What is amazing to me is that we have nearly infinite access to information at our fingertips yet Democrats keep getting dumber and dumber. Tiktok brain, emotional hysteria and fear keep their minds locked up, unable to see past their narsicm.
Exciting to read such a bold outline again. The first time of course the EO on shutting down the Department of Education was not in effect so the creation of Michael’s proposal was under stress to be considered as now.
My first comment relates to parents choosing their schools based on merit of the school or the curriculum of choice. One has to consider without bias, that the parents of the students failing or struggling for the most part, are not involved with their children’s educations such as working with them on lessons, or following what is happening. They assume the schools are doing what they can or I hate to say it, just don’t care enough or feel threaten of they ask “Silly” questions, too parents are in some cases fearful of teachers or school authorities. So these and other issues with parents of failing students will be a consistent issue no matter the setting. There is little chance things in this sector, the very segment of children (failing/struggling) that improvement of education bares responsibility will improve.
Second, with the simplistic approach of local control and no “Master” in the state government, testing will be a challenge as testing is still required to establish learning. Colleges continue to use SAT’s tests to determine the status of incoming student or to accept students. What would be the benchmark test(s) process if no single test mandated, or perhaps this would be a legislative determination, one wonders.
No way do I wish to pore cold water on Mr. Tavoliero’s efforts. I admire the submission hoping that the “Wizards of Smarts” within the legislature tune in.
Cheers, Johnson-Ketchikan
I’m a little confused, so perhaps someone could clarify. “Each town, city, or borough could establish its own locally run schools.” Mat-Su School District is run by the borough, is it not? So, I’m not sure how this act would really change too much out here. Having said that, I think the Mat-Su School District is doing well compared to other Alaskan school districts and I’m proud to be a part of that.
I’ll take a guess Manda, yes, same here the borough funds the school district, I believe that is a mandatory requirement. What I am taking from this is within a borough or what ever the local authority is labeled, the ability to formulate charters, private, schools would reside with the citizens. The borough in our cases, would facilitate these choices made by I assume, some form of initial partnership during the formation process to assure that the fiscal and governing mythology is in place in a uniform process.
The point being that an effort to form a charter or private school would not be subject to a borough assembly’s prerogative.
I won’t go any further, as this is only a view generated from my interpretation. I didn’t go into online classes schools, or correspondent as those are so flexible as to be an individuals choice, not a building setting.
Which logically involves the borough were current borough owned school facilities involved. Private buildings present another sphere entirely, perhaps dealing with code issues to assure a safe environment.
Cheers
Al-Ketchikan
Great point. My primary concern is about ensuring clear responsibility and accountability at the individual school level, rather than creating an environment where education could become politically charged. Although the Mat-Su School District has traditionally maintained conservative educational values, my analysis of PEAKS performance data from 2018-2019 revealed proficiency rates of only 44.48% in English Language Arts and 41.39% in Math. While I hope these numbers have improved, I haven’t yet analyzed post-Covid data. More importantly, the Valley is currently experiencing significant population growth reminiscent of the early 1980s, but this time driven largely by former Anchorage residents. As demonstrated by the 2023 school board elections, this influx raises the potential for future ideological shifts. The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act would decentralize education, potentially fostering greater competition among schools.
MICHAEL TAVOLIERO- Please run for Governor so we can have good leadership for a change!