I have advocated for administratively firewalling the three distinct types of educational opportunities available in our school district as part of a philosophy of valuing every student in the district equally.  Those three types are the BEST Homeschool program, the non-charter schools, and the charter schools.

As you may recall, earlier this year as the result of an external audit there was a “clawback” by the borough from the school district of $11.4M of excess surplus at the end of the 24-25 fiscal year (borough ordinance 7.04.125, finalized in 2018). What you can clearly see is that the 2024-2025 excess surplus was not some sudden spike in the district’s funds.

Our School District is not a Prison System, and Charter Schools are Revenue Neutral

Among the many injustices surrounding the Pearl Creek saga, perhaps the most infuriating to me is the insidious claim that it will somehow “cost” the school district over two million dollars per year to “stand up” Pearl Creek STEAM Charter School….

For my first blog post I provide some of the details about my background that provide the experience and knowledge base that I will draw upon as a school board member.

… I started at UAF as a Research Associate Professor in 2004. To make the move more interesting, I bicycled up from Houston while friends separately drove my belongings up in a UHaul truck. My educational outreach activities at UAF have mostly centered around creating and overseeing a statewide traveling digital planetarium program. Between this program and our son’s school activities, I have had the opportunity to visit a good fraction of the schools in our district. I met my wife Keiko, a Fairbanks native, in 2008 and we married in 2009. Our son Griffin was born in 2013.