By Leigh Sloan
Alaska families face a real and growing threat: the next governor’s race will heavily influence whether tens of thousands of correspondence and homeschool students keep the resources they depend on as well as whether Alaskan students will be able to access additional educational choice funds opening up through the federal government in 2027.
The federal Education Freedom Tax Credit is a program that allows taxpayers to get a full tax refund on up to $1,700 per year to go to a scholarship granting organization of their choice to support the choices of families to educate their children more effectively. The federal government has given each governor in each state the power to opt in or out of this opportunity. Even though our current Governor Dunleavy has opted in, there is no guarantee that the next governor will allow this necessary program to flourish.
We are seeing patterns being drawn along party lines with 25 Republican governors opting in and 19 Democrat governors standing in opposition. With numbers like this, those who value educational freedom should realize how much ground could be lost with a Democrat governor. Neither will they be likely to protect the charter and correspondence school allotments for roughly 24,000 Alaskan students.
That is why Alaska needs a governor with a proven record of getting results, not just making promises. Shelley Hughes has run for the Alaska House and Senate six times and won every time, in seats spanning the Mat-Su and beyond, building a track record that holds up regardless of who she’s up against. She didn’t just win elections. She used her time in office to actually deliver for Alaska’s kids.
Her leadership on the Alaska Reads Act is the clearest proof. As Senate Majority Leader, Hughes was instrumental in coalescing the votes needed to pass this landmark literacy initiative, working across the aisle with Governor Dunleavy and Democratic Senator Tom Begich to get it across the finish line. The bill wasn’t easy. It took a Senate floor amendment merging two competing versions and a final House vote that broke 21-19, without following straight party lines. That’s the kind of coalition-building that gets tough legislation passed, not just introduced. Hughes has pointed to that experience, noting a governor “will not always be given the legislature you would maybe hand-pick,” and that the skill of building unlikely majorities is exactly what the job demands.
That’s the difference between a candidate who talks about school choice and one who has actually navigated the legislative process to protect it. Correspondence funding and the Education Freedom Tax Credit are not guaranteed. They exist because Republican leadership, session after session, chose to defend them against relentless legal and political pressure. The next governor will decide whether that defense continues or collapses.
Alaska needs a governor who has already proven she can win difficult races and pass difficult legislation, someone who won’t fold under pressure from special interests and won’t need on-the-job training to navigate Juneau’s legislature. Shelley Hughes has already done both.
The stakes are thousands of Alaska families and their children’s education. Vote for school choice. Choose Shelley Hughes for Governor!
Leigh Sloan is an Alaskan author, podcaster, educator, speaker, consultant, strategist, and the Founder of Brave Nation.
