Alaska Needs a New Approach to Education

In case we needed any more reminders that Alaska’s educational system is coming up short, the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress report had more disappointing news.

The NAEP measures reading and mathematics progress among fourth- and eighth-grade students. According to its findings, Alaska ranked near the bottom in nearly every category. Most worrisome, Alaska was one of only a handful of states that saw fourth-grade test scores in both reading and math go down from the previous report in 2015.

Even before these disappointing results, we knew that less than 40 percent of students enrolled in our public schools are meeting grade-level standards in reading and math. And only 14.7 percent of our tenth graders are proficient in math.

What to do?

One common answer is to boost funding for education. But we’re already spending $20,172 per pupil each year. In fact, no other state spends more per pupil to educate its children than Alaska.

Clearly, spending more on education is not making the difference.

Alaskans seem to understand that a new approach is necessary, which is why one poll found that more than 60 percent of Alaskans agree families should get to decide where their child attends school. Now, most Alaskan families can send their children only to the school they are zoned for.

There are exceptions, but the process to change schools is cumbersome, time-consuming and excludes many.

Allowing families greater freedom to decide where their child goes to school recognizes a simple reality—no two children are alike. What works for one student may not work for another.

Other states put this thinking into practice by creating education saving accounts (ESAs), which allow some families to use education dollars to pay for tutoring, school supplies, or even private school tuition. In essence, the money would follow the child, rather than the child following the money.

Another educational option is charter schools, which are public schools that operate with greater autonomy and freedom in exchange for higher accountability. Some of these schools may use different curriculum, have school uniforms, or even have longer class hours.

Charter schools have exploded in popularity and it’s not hard to understand why. In Florida and New York, charter students are outperforming their traditional-school peers in academic assessments. And because charter schools tend to operate in low-income neighborhoods, many of their graduates are often the first in their families to be accepted into four-year colleges.

The success of charter schools has created a huge demand. One 2014 analysis pegged the waiting lists to attend charter schools at more than 1 million.

Unfortunately, here in Alaska, we have a weak charter school law that leaves operators highly reliant on school districts for authorization, funding, and support.

About the only flexibility Alaskan families have outside their local traditional public school is homeschooling their children. A decision that makes sense considering the local public school may be quite a distance for some families in the state. According to one analysis from the Interior Distance of Education of Alaska, homeschool enrollment in their program recently grew by about 5 percent annually during the last five years.

These numbers show Alaskans are open to embracing other educational options, but we need more of this. All Alaskans would benefit with increased educational freedom.

For a state that prides itself on being different, it’s clear our educational system is too rigid and makes it difficult to customize an education plan that meets the needs of individual students.

That shouldn’t be the case. Greater educational freedom can help ensure that every child in our state receives a great education.

Jeremy Price is Alaska state director of Americans for Prosperity Foundation.