A mother of twins born prematurely — one an autistic child and the other who has cerebral palsy — has filed a legal brief in support of the state “allotment program” that financially assists homeschool and correspondence school families so they can have individualized learning programs for their children.

That correspondence and homeschool allotment program was challenged by the National Education Association, which argues that if kids are not in government schools, their parents should pay for their education out of their own funds, not using public money. The NEA claims that parents are using the money for religious education.

An Alaska Superior Court judge ruled earlier this year that the state program is unconstitutional and must end. The ruling, which impacts up to 24,000 students in Alaska, is going to the Alaska Supreme Court for an appeal by the State Department of Law on behalf of the Department of Education. Oral arguments are scheduled for the week of June 24, just one week before Judge Adolf Zeman’s ruling goes into effect.

Attorney General Treg Taylor in his appeal wrote that Zeman erred in declaring the homeschool and correspondence school allotments as unconstitutional, and he further erred when he concluded that “purchasing educational services and materials from private organizations with public funds” violates the constitution. In fact, even in schools, educational services and materials are purchased from private companies every day. Judge Zeman dug his heels in and denied the state a summary judgment.

In the amicus brief filed by the Alaska mother last week, her lawyers describe how she had homeschooled her children because of their unique medical conditions.

An amicus brief is a friend-of-the-court brief. It may be opposed by either party, as it is not filed in support of either party.

“She made this decision because she felt that she could meet her children’s needs at that time in a way the school district was unable to. This is never an easy decision because homeschooling is a significant undertaking in terms of time and resources, and for families without significant financial resources, it is incredibly difficult. The allotments authorized by AS 14.03.310 are a lifeline to these families and were significant to Ms. Boden,” the brief states.

When the mother was homeschooling, she used the state financial allotments for:

• Piano lessons
• Voice lessons
• Online math and history lessons
• Specialized autism curriculum
• Martial arts classes
• Private swim lessons
• The hotdoggers ski program at Hilltop Ski Area
• Challenge Alaska ski lessons at Alyeska Report in Girdwood
• Internet reimbursement; and
• Technology purchase (a computer)

“The educational benefits of these uses are self-apparent. Nonetheless, it is worth highlighting the impact of some of these programs. For example, the piano and voice lessons were not only therapeutic for Ms. Boden’s child with cerebral palsy, they increased her self-confidence and ability to perform, which in turn has allowed her to now be meaningfully involved with choir at her current neighborhood school and participate in programs with the Alaska Theatre of Youth,” the brief explains.

“Similarly, participation in ski and karate lessons are not only a form of physical therapy, but also provide for important socialization and building skills for working within groups of people. These are important benefits that should not be taken away from hundreds of families simply because others may be using allotment funds in an unconstitutional manner,” the brief says.

Often, the homeschool and correspondence school families use their allotments for:

• Dyslexia tutoring
• Learning therapy programs
• Specialized educational curriculum tailored to their child’s needs and disability
• Purchasing assisted learning devices and specialized learning software
• Field trips and outings to museums and artistic performances; and
• Purchasing supplies for therapeutic learning and art

“What is also important to keep in mind is that many of the specialized tutoring and therapy programs would not exist but for the critical mass of homeschool students enabled by the allotments,” the brief continues.

The uses of the homeschool allotments described in the brief don’t trigger constitutional concerns, the lawyers write.

“To conclude otherwise would require concluding that all private tutors and therapists and all vendors who sell adaptive learning equipment qualify as ‘educational institutions,’ a conclusion that is entirety untenable. The above-listed use of allotment funds cannot be reasonably characterized as money ‘from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.'” the brief argues.

Yet if the Court adopts one of the “all or nothing” approaches currently being advocated by the NEA and its plaintiffs, these families will lose access to these allotment funds through no fault of their own and they will experience significant hardship as a result.

“There is no sound reason to eliminate the allotment program in its entirety simply because certain uses of the funds may be
unconstitutional. Numerous families statewide use these allotment funds in clearly constitutional ways. Equity and justice require that their voices be heard in these proceedings,” the brief says.

Read the entire brief here:

A separate amicus brief was filed last week by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, which offers many homeschool and correspondence school programs.

Mat-Su School District operates three public correspondence schools: Mat-Su Central School, Knik Charter School, and Twindly Bridge Charter School. These program educate over 3,000 students — about 16% of the student population of the district.

“The families that participate in the MSBSD’s public correspondence schools do so for a variety of reasons, but for many, a key reason is the allotment program. With the help and oversight of school administrators, correspondence allotments allow families to seek out resources and materials tailored to the educational needs of their own children. Such resources and materials can include textbooks, tutoring services, extra-curricular activities, and tuition for college courses (last year, more than 470 credits were earned by our correspondence students from a variety of public and private universities, including UAA and APU),” the district writes in its brief.

In many cases, allotments are used to reimburse expenses from the same vendors and service providers that also operate within the district’s “brick-and-mortar” or “neighborhood” schools, the district explains in its brief.

“The MSBSD has spent thousands of hours developing detailed procedures and guidelines for how allotment dollars may be used, and on vetting specific instructional partners and course materials for appropriateness and educational quality. The MSBSD sees no principled basis for targeting the resources made available for correspondence students – many of whom live in more rural areas – when those very same resources are being purchased for students at brick-and-mortar schools. Public correspondence school students have relied on these allotments for the past ten years and have had tremendous success utilizing the allotments to further their education,” the district writes.

The Zeman ruling impacts as many as 24,518 Alaska students, fully 17.3% of all Alaska enrollment in the 28 districts that have programs that give flexibility to families to create individual learning plans for their children that may combine correspondence, homeschool, tutoring, and more. It impacts the $119,559,805 these districts get in state funding.

If the Zeman ruling were to stand, there would be no public correspondence school options in Alaska and families currently in correspondence school would be forced to pay for what is otherwise public schooling out of their own pockets. 

The case was filed last year by a group backed by the National Education Association-Alaska, with liberal activist attorney Scott Kendall (Alaskans for Better Elections fame) as one of the lawyers suing the state.