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Dear ASD Staff and Families,

Last Friday, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a summary order in the appeal about the constitutionality of Alaska’s correspondence school statutes. The Court reversed the trial court’s ruling that statutes could not be used in a constitutional manner regardless of how allotments were actually used. The Court remanded the case to the trial court to determine what current uses of allotments, if any, are unconstitutional. This means ASD’s correspondence school families will have access to allotments as they did prior to the trial court’s ruling and that ASD does not expect any new regulations from the Alaska State Board of Education. 

You can read the Alaska Supreme Court’s summary order here: /.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation during this process.

Enjoy your week.

-Team ASD

Dear ASD Families & Staff,

The recent Superior Court decision on Alaska correspondence schools has left in question how all Alaskan correspondence school families will provide an education for their students in the future. 

As background, on April 13, 2024, Alaska Superior Court Judge Zeman issued an order striking down in their entirety the Alaska statutes that provide for correspondence school allotments. The case is now on appeal before the Alaska Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will hear the appeal on June 27 at 10:00 a.m.  

You can watch the arguments for the appeal at the following website:. The channel that makes these arguments available to the public livestreams them and archives them for anyone wishing to view them later. 

ASD expects the Court to issue a cursory decision on the appeal soon after June 27 that will uphold Judge Zeman’s ruling, reverse that ruling, or uphold some of it and reverse part of it. The decision will give school districts across the state guidance on how to proceed uniformly for the upcoming school year. The State Supreme Court will issue its decision, then later issue a full opinion that contains the reasoning for its decision of the appeal. The State Board of Education is scheduled to hold a special meeting on July 1, after the Supreme Court hearing, to discuss the need for new correspondence program regulations. 

ASD anticipates that no matter what the ruling says, correspondence schooling in Alaska will remain viable for the upcoming school year and into the future. Specifically, ASD expects that traditional correspondence school purchases such as curriculum, teaching supplies, and access to technology will remain a core part of correspondence schools. Please know that we expect to provide an update after the court rules and we know more about what other purchases remain viable after July 1.

The District understands that uncertainty in correspondence reimbursements is a burden on families who are seeking to plan for next school year. While we wish we had definitive direction at this time, we hope that this letter will give families some information to begin their planning. We will continue to update you as more information comes forward.  

It is our vision that the ASD will continue to build the best correspondence schools in the state within the rule of the law, and we are working proactively to make this happen. We encourage you to work with your school if you have concerns or questions.

Sincerely,

Sven Gustafson
Chief Academic Officer
ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø School District

Based on Alaska Superior Court Judge Zeman’s decision to place a stay (temporary pause) until June 30, 2024, on the recent ruling that Alaska’s correspondence school allotment statutes are unconstitutional, the ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø School District will resume the correspondence allotment program for the remainder of the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. 

ASD is ready to start issuing payments for past and current reimbursement requests and vendor payments next week. 

We acknowledge the ongoing concerns that families have had about the temporary pause placed on reimbursements for purchases made using correspondence school allotments. We are here to support you to get your reimbursement for this school year.  

The ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø is also advocating the State Board of Education and Early Development to meet as soon as possible to enact regulations that provide for constitutional correspondence study programs for the 2024-25 school year and beyond. 

We thank you for your patience as we work through this process with the courts.

The ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø School District (ASD) is committed to making sure there is no disruption to students’ educational needs. Currently, the Alaska Superior Court’s ruling that Alaska’s correspondence school program statutes are unconstitutional, prevents ASD from processing any pending or yet-to-be submitted reimbursement requests. The court’s ruling invalidated the reimbursement statute in its entirety. 

A stay request has been made to the court by both the plaintiffs and the State of Alaska (SoA) who are parties in this case.  ASD submitted an amicus brief because we would urgently like this issue addressed by the court on behalf of our correspondence families so reimbursements can be processed for this school year. In the absence of a stay order, ASD is unable to process reimbursements. We anticipate a decision by the court on the stay request the week of April 29th. 

In addition, on April 23rd, the ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø passed a resolution urging the State of Alaska Board of Education and Early Development to quickly implement regulations that provide for constitutional correspondence study programs starting with the 2024-2025 school year. 

We will keep you updated with any new developments.