Correspondence school still open despite shortfall

By EOWYN LeMAY IVEY-Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- Students otherwise not eligible to take classes through Mat-Su Correspondence School due to a recent enrollment closure can still sign up for a $250 per course fee.

Last week the Mat-Su Borough School District closed enrollment at the school, meaning no new students were allowed to sign up. However, the district has clarified the closure, explaining that students who were enrolled in first semester courses by Nov. 1 will be allowed to continue their second semester studies. These students will not have to pay a course fee.

At the same time, enrollment for students with extenuating circumstances, such as a long-term illness, will be considered on a case-by-case basis by Assistant Superintendent of Instruction George Troxel. If approved, these students will receive a waiver and will not have to pay a course fee.

Finally, any other new student choosing to enroll in the Mat-Su Correspondence School will be charged a $250 per course fee.

District officials are emphasizing that, contrary to rumors in the community, the correspondence programs are not being entirely closed down, and during the next budget cycle the administration will consider a possible restructuring of the school.

The district closed the school to new enrollments last week after it was announced that the program was half-a-million dollars in the hole.

The deficit is blamed on the development of a new homeschool-support program designed this year to attract some of the 1,700 students living in Mat-Su who are not enrolled in the district. However, fewer than 100 new students signed up; instead more than 200 students already enrolled in the correspondence school transferred to the new program. All this added up to more expense and less-than-anticipated revenue.

The homeschool-support program offered each student $1,800 for curriculum and $350 to go toward the purchase of a home computer. At the same time, the school did not benefit from the addition of more state funding that comes with entirely new students.