By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO
As House Representative Kevin McCabe’s, March 10, 2025, Must Read Alaska opinion, “Is school district consolidation possible in Alaska?”, points out, Alaska’s education system is indeed at a crossroads, but the solution is not consolidation of bureaucracies.
It is eliminating them altogether.
The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act, which I wrote about on Feb. 21 in Must Read Alaska, along with some instructions for the repeal of Title 14 and the dissolution of all school districts, offers a real solution to Alaska’s declining education performance: returning power to parents, students, and communities rather than doubling down on a failing system.
While I respect and admire for his tenacity with dealing with the Alaska version of “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, Alaska’s state capital in Juneau, Rep. McCabe’s attempt to penetrate the mystery of the “system is unsustainable”, is convolutedly misdirected and continues to build our public education system on an obsolete, defective, and union driven foundation, Title 14.
The argument for district consolidation is built on a flawed premise: that larger bureaucracies equal efficiency.
In reality, consolidation simply shifts waste from 54 smaller districts into 30 larger, more centralized bureaucracies, doing nothing to address the core problem—the existence of a top-down, state-controlled education system that prioritizes administrations and public education unions over students and parents. Instead of making bureaucracy more “efficient,” we must abolish it entirely.
We have seen this bovine structure fail in almost every education metric available since statehood over the last 2 decades.
These metrics include student achievement, attendance, graduation rates, and a potentially successful future, alongside factors like teacher quality and school environment.
- School districts do not educate students. Teachers, parents, and local communities do.
- The existence of 54, 30, or even 1 school district does nothing to improve student performance because the bureaucratic model operated and managed through Title 14, itself, is broken and obsolete.
- The biggest drain on education funding is administrative overhead, which does not disappear with consolidation. It grows and grows.
- Hawaii may not be a model to follow. Its single-district model has failed to improve education outcomes, proving that centralization is not the answer. Hawaii’s education system is broken. It has chronic absenteeism, astounding dropout rates, and abysmal test scores.
Instead of merging school districts, we should abolish them altogether along with Title 14 and transition to a parent-driven, student-focused education system where funding follows the child. Consolidation also means that children are bombarded with a slew of tests to make sure they are “staying on track.” Teachers as well are hurt by consolidation as there is no competition or creative innovation.
Solution: The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act
1. Repeal Title 14 and Eliminate All School Districts
- School districts exist to serve bureaucracies, not students. By repealing Title 14 and dissolving all school districts, funding can go directly to students and teachers rather than administrators.
- Parents, not bureaucrats, should decide how education dollars are spent.
- Local communities should have the power to participate from a democratic legitimacy, not through a top down autocracy controlled by unelected bureaucrats.
2. Establish Universal Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
- Instead of funneling money through wasteful bureaucracies, parents receive direct funding to use for public schools, private schools, charter schools, homeschooling, microschools, or online education.
- Education funding should follow the students, not be hoarded by centralized administrators.
3. Return School Budget Control to Local Communities
- The current proposal proposes to shift power locally while actually further centralizing it into 30 mega-districts.
- A real local control system means parents and communities decide education policy—not state-mandated bureaucracies.
Debunking the Myths of Consolidation
Consolidation shifts administrative costs rather than eliminating them. The only way to truly cut costs is to remove administrative bloat altogether. While consolidation saves money in areas like administrative payroll, facility operations, and resource sharing, true efficiency doesn’t come from merging districts—it comes from eliminating bureaucratic waste entirely. Instead of consolidating, Alaska should consider abolishing school districts altogether and directly funding students through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
While larger school districts can offer diverse programs, smaller, parent-led educational settings in concert with their communities provide more adaptable and customized learning experiences. The flexibility inherent in Alaska’s correspondence schools, charter schools, and potentially microschools, which are small, independent learning environments that typically serve fewer than 150 students, enables them to implement innovative educational strategies, frequently resulting in superior student outcomes compared to traditional large public-school districts.
The necessity of regional bureaucracies in ensuring educational access must be reevaluated in light of technological advancements and the success of decentralized education models. Homeschooling, online learning, and local education cooperatives offer viable alternatives that can provide personalized, flexible, and effective education without the need for extensive bureaucratic oversight.
Instead of forcing Alaskans into fewer, larger bureaucracies through legislative edict, further eroding education freedom, we should abolish bureaucracies altogether and return funding, decision-making, and control directly to parents in the communities they live.
Consolidation does not solve the problem—it merely reshuffles bureaucracy, making an already flawed system slightly less inefficient while continuing to harm student performance and educational outcomes. Instead of preserving and centralizing a failing model, Alaska must pursue full-scale education reform that puts students first, eliminates bureaucratic waste, and empowers parents and local communities to shape education—not government systems.
Alaska does not need 54 school districts. It does not need 30 school districts. It does not need school districts at all.
The Alaska Education Freedom and Local Control Act ensures real education choice, eliminates bureaucratic waste, and puts parents back in charge.
Instead of trying to save a broken system, let’s throw it out altogether and build a new one—where students, parents, and teachers have the freedom to create the education system Alaska truly deserves.
