Valuing Each Student Equally, Charter Schools and Pearl Creek

In previous News-Miner editorials 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. When the appeal of a school as a potential BEST homeschool center is a criterion for deciding whether to close a non-charter school, this is an implicit statement that homeschool students are more important than regular public school students. Similarly, when it is spuriously claimed that opening a charter school “takes resources” from non-charter schools and therefore should be blocked, this is a statement that charter school students are less valued than those in the non-charter schools.

All three of these educational modes have value. Because Alaska has a funding system designed so that the money “follows the student”, a healthy school district does not need to, and should not, pit one mode against another. In particular, charter schools are public schools that any student can attend, although unfortunately our district has so few that they are vastly oversubscribed and entry is through a lottery system. Charter schools provide a variety of parent-overseen educational approaches that ensure that the state’s required educational standards are met in a way that works best for participating families.  Charter schools should be thought of as parents voluntarily participating in an experiment in education for which successes can potentially be incorporated into the district’s non-charter and home-school programs.

The handling of the Two Rivers charter school (Home S.T.E.A.D.) and the Pearl Creek STEAM Charter School do not reflect well upon the current school board or district administration. Both should already be open.  With respect to Pearl Creek, the following are points that I have backed in detail in various items in the Archives:

• The three rounds of school closures were not conducted according to objective criteria and were driven by hidden (and not-so-hidden) agendas, and that includes the decision to close Pearl Creek.

• You need only compare the Pearl Creek Charter application to the applications from any other extant charter school to realize that their application was exemplary.

• The review of the Pearl Creek application by the school board was unprofessional and deserved the scathing rebuke that was provided by the state Department of Education & Early Development (DEED).

• Pearl Creek STEAM Charter School is a lawfully approved charter school.  The District and School Board’s actions to prevent it from opening are, in my opinion, unethical.  Regardless of the merit of the school district’s lawsuit, it is morally obligated to proceed according to state law and operate the school until the suit is resolved.  

• The claims that the district cannot afford to open Pearl Creek or that it will take resources from other schools are specious.

You should not misunderstand the big picture of the consequences if the District is successful in its legal efforts to prevent Pearl Creek from opening. The school board and district administration are seeking to end the current autonomy of the charter schools. The result will be that the only charter schools that are allowed to exist in our district will be ones that satisfy the personal tastes of the current school board.