PALMER — Parents of correspondence students stand to lose much of the flexibility and control provided by those programs under new regulations approved by the state.

John Brown, principal at Correspondence Study School in the Mat-Su Borough School District, said an ordinance approved by the state’s Board of Education and Early Development will essentially wrest control of many decisions usually held sacred by families deciding to participate in correspondence studies. It also means some students may be found ineligible to be counted as students in the local school district.

“What these regulations have is the potential for [correspondence] kids to be treated differently,” Brown said. In May, the state Board of Education voted to expand its regulation of correspondence programs to all school districts as opposed to only statewide programs, Brown said. As part of the expansion and a new regulation approved by the state board, Mat-Su Borough School District students in correspondence programs who also enroll in private institutions cannot be counted by the district, essentially losing state funding for those students.

Superintendent George Troxel said the school district has about 430 students who fall under this category, translating to more than $23,000 of lost funding if they are deemed uncountable.

Ken Klunder, a teacher at Correspondence Study School, said students in the program who struggle with a particular subject often seek outside help from a private institution.

“What the state is saying is if we don’t directly manage that course and teach that course we cannot count it as a core class,” Klunder said.

State Department of Education spokesman Eric Fry said the regulations are hitting on the local level not as a question of trust or disfavor, but as the responsibility of the state to make sure public money is being spent properly. In correspondence study programs, schools disperse an allotted amount of public funds to parents to use for their children’s education, Fry said.

“It didn’t make sense to have regulations that apply to some correspondence schools and not others,” Fry said.

He added the state school board knows some are unhappy with the regulation changes, but the board listened to all sides and public comments before making its decision.

For Brown, the decision will be a detriment to the flexibility correspondence families are looking for.

He said the new regulation also has the potential to disgruntle correspondence parents who look for the flexibility Brown and Klunder say the state school board is taking away. Because of that, the district risks those parents pulling their children out of the district to homeschool them independently, which would also eliminate per pupil state funding for those who leave.

“My sense is that there’s a lot of frustration, because I don’t think parents felt very involved in this process,” Brown said.

The regulation is being reviewed by the state’s law department before being sent to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell for his signature. Fry said the regulation is expected to be in effect in time for the 2008-2009 school year.

Brown and Klunder say what worries them the most is the integrity of the Mat-Su district’s Correspondence School being compromised.

“We believe parents will lose the authority they have, the authority they’re given to make educational decisions for their kids,” Brown said.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito-@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.