Correspondence school takes a hit

MAT-SU -- Facing a half-million-dollar budget deficit, the Mat-Su Correspondence School for the first time ever closed its doors to new students.

Mat-Su Borough School District officials say a $500,000 shortfall means the correspondence and homeschool-support programs will not accept new enrollments during the rest of the school year.

Contrary to rumors circulating the district, however, the school is not shutting down entirely and students currently enrolled in correspondence courses will be able to continue their studies next semester.

"No students will be booted from the program," Assistant Superintendent George Troxel said last week. "And there are other options."

This wasn't what some parents and students have been told, however.

In a districtwide memo central administration is calling "premature," the correspondence school announced the enrollment closure last week, saying it was ordered by Interim Superintendent Bob Doyle. Some school counselors, staff, parents and students were alarmed by the news, and in some cases were told it meant students enrolled this semester wouldn't be allowed to take classes next semester.

"How am I to proceed so as not to negatively impact my son's education?" one Colony High parent wrote in a letter to the Frontiersman. The parent, who asked that she not be named, said she happened to stop by the correspondence school last week when she unexpectedly learned of the change. She was told her 11th-grade son would not be allowed to take the second half of a U.S. history course he needs before he graduates in order to meet a college's entrance requirements.

The mother said her son is taking the first half of the correspondence course this semester as he continues with other classes at Colony High and intended to take the other half next semester until the family was told this wouldn't be allowed.

"Mr. Doyle is changing the rules in the middle of the game, so to speak … the decision is not well thought out, nor is it fair," the parent said.

But district administration insists current students were never to be affected by the change and says the enrollment closure was necessitated by a $500,000 budget shortfall.

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 and 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.

"It wasn't nearly enough to offset the costs," said Kim Floyd, public information specialist with the district. "That is why we have the $500,000 budget deficit."

Floyd said Doyle met with correspondence school principal Steve Levine earlier this month to discuss the options for dealing with the shortfall. Among them was ending new enrollments, but Floyd said the announcement of that closure was made prematurely.

"We apologize for the way the message went out … We understand this is a concern," Floyd said. Although she wasn't willing to point fingers, she did say that the information was not released in a way that Doyle would have liked.

As parents and students work to understand how they will be affected by the change, Floyd encouraged them to call the correspondence school to discuss the details of their situations. Between school counselors and the correspondence school, Floyd said, students should be able to identify options to meet their needs.

"We aren't ignoring the problem," she said.

As for the long-term future of Mat-Su Correspondence School, district officials say that is still a matter of discussion. As the school board and administration begin to work through next year's budget, however, Troxel said he anticipates the school's traditional correspondence study program will be downsized to allow more focus to be placed on homeschool support.

Troxel went on to say that while Mat-Su Correspondence School has never had to stop new enrollments in the middle of a school year, he said the practice is not abnormal in other correspondence and distance-learning programs around the state.