Alaska Supreme Court justices on Thursday weighed whether a lawsuit seeking to have the large portions of the state’s correspondence school program found unconstitutional wrongly focused on the state government.
The justices heard arguments in the appeal of a Superior Court ruling that found a correspondence school program law to be unconstitutional.
A central question from the justices during oral arguments was whether plaintiffs should be suing the state’s education department or individual districts.
The case whose decision is under appeal is State of Alaska, Department of Education and Early Development v. Alexander, in which plaintiffs argued that it is unconstitutional for public education money to be spent on private school tuition. Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman found the spending unconstitutional and struck down the parts of statute that allow homeschool allotment money; he suggested lawmakers could rewrite the law to make it constitutional.
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The state constitution does not allow the use of public funds for the benefit of private or religious schools.
Attorneys for the state of Alaska, a group of parents whose children attend private school using allotment money and another set of parents who argue that spending is unconstitutional all made oral arguments. Justices interrupted all three of the attorneys’ arguments with pointed questions about how the case should be decided.
Attorneys for the state appealed Zeman’s ruling and said the case should not hold the state’s education department to account because individual school districts are the only oversight body for homeschool spending.
In May, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills argued the lower court’s ruling should be thrown out because it is too broad, but Elbert Lin, a Virginia lawyer hired by the state, argued that since the Alaska statute that governs homeschool allotment spending has many constitutional applications, such as spending for school supplies as retailers like Target, it should not be thrown out — even if there is also the opportunity for the statute to be applied unconstitutionally.
“It is irrelevant whether the provision might be applied unconstitutionally in the view of the plaintiffs or even this court,” he said. Lin argued that if there is an unconstitutional use of the funds, the plaintiffs should sue individual districts, not the state. That way the courts can enforce any unconstitutional spending with a “scalpel rather than a sledgehammer.”
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The state’s education department was once responsible for monitoring homeschool allotment spending, but a 2014 law proposed by Dunleavy, then a state senator, put that responsibility on districts instead.
Justice Dario Borghesan probed Lin’s argument and asked if state law allows allotments to be spent on full-time private school tuition. He said “both text and legislative history” suggest that full-time enrollment in private school is not correspondence study, which requires a certified teacher to come up with a learning plan for the student. “That seems somewhat nullified, or maybe a rubber stamp, if the child is just attending private school full time,” he said.
Anchorage parents who use homeschool allotments to pay for private school educations joined the case as intervenors, as people who could be affected by its outcome. Their attorney, Kirby Thomas West, took a different tack than the attorney for the state, and argued that the court should make a decision to reverse the lower court’s ruling. She argued that it would violate the United States Constitution to tell parents how they can spend their money.
Borghesan pushed back on that assessment because allotments are public school money. He cited previous case law: “While parents may have a fundamental right to decide whether to send their child to public school, they do not have a fundamental right, generally, to direct how a public school teaches their child,” he read. Essentially, he said, states have authority over how public education money is spent, so the state can stipulate that it may not be spent on a private education.
West sought to make her point through a different comparison: “It would be absurd and patently unconstitutional to suggest that the state must police the use of Permanent Fund dividends to ensure that no Alaskan ever uses that money to defray the cost of their child’s tuition at a private school,” she said. “It’s just as unconstitutional to do so here.”
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She asked the justices to place a stay, which is a pause on the implementation of a ruling, on the lower court’s decision if they sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration. The stay would mean her clients could continue to spend public education money on private school tuition.
After the arguments, Chief Deputy Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh said she thought the case went well for the defense. “It’s always hard to read the tea leaves, but I think some of the justices certainly seem to be pretty skeptical of that superior court decision,” she said.
She pointed out that it is not typical for the intervenors to make a distinct argument from the defense: “So I think that creates an extra wrinkle for the justices to try to noodle through as they think about the case,” she said.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Scott Kendall, asked the court to uphold Zeman’s ruling. He argued that the judge was right to strike down homeschool allotments because the intent of the statute is to allow unconstitutional spending.
He pointed to legislative history in his appeal: when Dunleavy proposed the allotment law, he also sought a change to the state constitution to allow public funds to be spent at private schools. Dunleavy also proposed enacting school vouchers, which like the amendment, did not pass.
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Kendall said that for that reason the plaintiffs should not have to sue individual school districts, because the statute is meant to allow unconstitutional spending: “When a statute grants a plainly unconstitutional power, as it does in this case — and in fact, the legislative history meticulously explains that that was the very sole reason why this legislation was passed — then it’s clearly unconstitutional on its face,” he said.
Borghesan pushed back on this argument. He repeatedly asked Kendall why the whole statute should be thrown out, rather than targeting unconstitutional uses by suing districts. “Why does that bad purpose, you know, defeat the whole rest of the statute? I mean, we have separation of powers. We’re respectful of the Legislature’s actions,” he said. “We kind of have a duty to uphold constitutional applications of statutes.”
Kendall conceded there may be a way to keep the statute without allowing public education dollars to pay for private school tuition: “There is a possibility this court, with ingenuity, could do a limiting construction — could sever parts of this — and that would be an outcome we would support,” he said.
He then referred to an early court case, in which the Supreme Court invalidated state scholarships for Sheldon Jackson College, a Sitka institution that later closed.
“Because the real core concern here, again, is the core concern when you go back to the Sheldon Jackson case, which is, are we using public funds to subsidize a private educational purpose?” Kendall said. “Here it is clear. It’s clear from the purpose of the statute, it’s clear from the interveners’ very presence here, it’s clear this is happening, and it’s clear this was the purpose of the statute.”
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Deena Bishop, the commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development, was in the courtroom. She said after the hearing that, in her view, districts are doing a good job of ensuring state money is spent constitutionally. She did not directly say whether the state education department is in a position to regulate spending. Foremost, she said, her interest is correspondence students: “My purpose and goals are to have a great education every day for young people, and there are nearly 23,000 — it’s 22,900 students — that we want to ensure that their education continues without disruption.”
Chief Justice Peter Maassen said the court would consider the appeal and issue “something” but did not give a time frame for a decision: “No timelines are guaranteed, but we understand the urgency of the matter,” he said. Without a new court ruling, Zeman’s ruling would go into effect on Monday.
Editor-in-Chief Andrew Kitchenman contributed reporting to this story.
It was another active day for both the Globe Fire and firefighters working to protect property from fires in the area.
The Globe Fire (#253) is now part of the Grapefruit Complex, named after a nearby rock climbing spot. It has significantly burned the area around these limestone rocks and spread east on Saturday toward the White Mountains National Recreation Area, which has a fire closure that includes the Wickersham Dome Trail.
On Friday, the Iver and Slate fires merged into the Iver Fire (#249), now estimated at 14,649 acres and burning 10 miles east of Minto Lake. It threatens a Native allotment and is quickly spreading through spruce trees toward the Elliott Highway, where the Globe Fire is already present. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline lies between the two fires, with the Iver Fire about 7 miles southwest of the Globe Fire’s crossing at mile 39.
The complex also includes:
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The Eagle Fire (#306) is estimated at 40 acres and was backing, creeping and smoldering in a mixture of spruce and hardwoods. It wasn’t immediately threatening any known sites of value. This lightning-caused fire has been burning since late Friday night.
The Wilber Fire (#308) was fire was reported at about 2 p.m. Saturday. It is about 4 miles west of mile 51.
The Tatlina Fire (#292) was reported by a passing motorist east of mile 51 Elliott Highway.
The Noordor Fire (#192) is estimated at 7,195 acres. This lightning-caused fire has been burning on BLM-managed land since June 20.
The Fossil Fire (#115) is not exhibiting any fire activity or smoke, but will still be grouped into the complex. It is located in the White Mountain National Recreation Area.
Firefighters, including smokejumpers, two hotshot crews, and the BLM Type 2 CATG crew from Yukon Flats, are working to clear brush and set up sprinkler systems on structures threatened by the Globe Fire. There are 94 personnel assigned to the fire, with the Silver City (New Mexico) Hotshot Crew arriving Sunday. The Eagle Lake Wildland Fire Module from California arrived at the fire Saturday night and is tasked with structure assessments along the Elliott Highway from mile 39 to Livengood 32 miles north.
The fire was estimated at 9,342 acres Saturday. Heavy smoke prevented ground or aerial surveys and made flying aircraft for suppression efforts hazardous.
Smoke continues to hamper aerial support for firefighters working on the ground who are tasked with set up protection measures on more than 40 structures, Native allotments and Globe Creek Camp. A few days ago, the fire crossed the road north of Globe Creek Camp and south of a subdivision of homes, leaving structures intact.
A GO Evacuation Order is still in place for people within mileposts 39-48.
The section of the Elliott Highway near the Globe Fire reopened late Thursday night. Expect significant delays between mileposts 25-50 if fire activity increases as it did Thursday afternoon. Please exercise caution and patience, turn on your headlights to help ensure the safety of firefighters and flaggers working in the area. Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities contracted workers and a pilot car are helping keep the flow of traffic open.
Check https://511.alaska.gov/ for road updates.
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Warmer and drier conditions are predicted to continue through the weekend. There is a chance of isolated thunderstorms and possibly some rain in the afternoons. Winds could be gusty and erratic around the thunderstorms.
Read the more information about the Globe Fire at https://akfireinfo.com/tag/globe-fire/.
For more information, call the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Information Office at (907)356-5511.
Map of some fires included in the Grapefruit Complex on June 29, 2024. Click on this link to see use the Alaska Wildland Fire Information Map used to create this map.
-BLM-
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, Ak 99703
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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National Incident Support Cache with a $18.1 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Military in Alaska.
‹ Firefighters battle new fire near Tustumena Lake, 16 miles south of Soldotna
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, AK Fire Info, BLM Alaska Fire Service
Home › AK Fire Info ›Firefighters battle new fire near Tustamena Lake, 16 miles south of Soldotna
By Alaska Fire PIOson
Firefighters are currently battling the 20-acre Tustumena Lake Fire (#311) approximately two miles to the northwest of the northern shores of Tustumena Lake. The fire is burning in a roadless location in black spruce away from any structures at this time. Using helicopters, firefighters were shuttled to the fire to begin suppression efforts with support from air tankers and water scooping aircraft. Additional smokejumpers have been ordered to bolster suppression efforts on the ground. Fire personnel will continue to use water dropping helicopters throughout the evening to cool the fire’s perimeter in order to construct fire line as they slow the spread of the fire.
With multiple initial attack fires occurring in the Coastal Region today, fire managers are utilizing limited resources to provide the most benefit to suppression efforts across the region. Smoke and aircraft will be visible to the public traveling along the Tustumena Lake Road but at this time the fire poses no threat to the public.
Tustemena Lake Fire (#311) Public Information Map for Saturday, June 29, 2024. Click on the map to download a PDF file to enlarge or print.
‹ BLM Alaska Fire Service Fire Update
Categories: AK Fire Info, Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry (DOF)
Tags: 2024 Alaska Fire Season, Alaska Division of Forestry, Soldotna, Tustamena Lake Fire
A Grant Aviation Cessna 208 is parked outside the A concourse at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. (Photo by Scott McMurren)
For jet flights from Anchorage, the first stop at the airport is the check-in kiosk. Then, it’s off to the TSA line.
But those jet flights are just half of the story for Anchorage travelers. The entire A concourse at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport as well as the L gates downstairs near the baggage claim are reserved for smaller carriers that go to many destinations around the state.
Air carriers come and go. Some familiar names are gone, but not forgotten, including Era Alaska, Reeve Aleutian Air, Markair … even Wien Air Alaska. Many of the destinations, and a whole lot more, are served by carriers that fly out of the A and L gates. Further, several air carriers fly out of other terminals, or out of Anchorage’s downtown airport at Merrill Field.
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I boarded an early flight on a recent morning from Anchorage to Kenai. But the 7 a.m. flight time was not the first flight of the day.
Kenai Aviation’s first flight of the day is at 4 a.m. from Kenai to Anchorage. The nine-seat Tecnam 2012 aircraft then turns around and flies south at 5 a.m.
Kenai Aviation recently acquired a third aircraft. “That enables us to fly two planes on the route between Anchorage and Kenai, using the third plane as a spare,” said company founder Joel Caldwell.
The Tecnam aircraft is a wing-over twin-engine plane made in Italy.
Grant Aviation dedicates four Cessna 208s to the Anchorage-Kenai route, according to Dan Knesek, the company’s vice president. “During the peak summer season, we offer 36 flights a day between Anchorage and Kenai,” he said.
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Grant’s first southbound flight of the day leaves Anchorage at 4:30 a.m. for Kenai.
Kenai is Grant’s only destination out of Anchorage, although the carrier operates an extensive network in Southwest Alaska.
Grant Aviation and Kenai Aviation both are part 135 air carriers, which means they are limited to nine passengers per flight. Since Ravn Alaska pulled out of the Anchorage-Kenai market, all flights are on the smaller nine-seat planes.
Ravn Alaska still flies to Homer, though. They also fly to Valdez, Dutch Harbor, Sand Point, Cold Bay, St. Paul Island, St. Mary’s and Unalakleet. All of Ravn’s flights are on the de Havilland Dash 8, which holds up to 37 passengers.
[Make the most of warm summer days and get out to Kachemak Bay, Resurrection Bay and Prince William Sound]
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Aleutian Airways flies a larger plane, the Saab 2000, configured for 41-50 passengers. From Anchorage, the carrier flies to Sand Point, Dutch Harbor, King Salmon and Cold Bay.
A Saab 2000 inside the Aleutian Airways hangar in Anchorage. The aircraft formerly was part of PenAir’s fleet. (Photo by Scott McMurren)
Both Ravn Alaska and Aleutian Airways are part 121 carriers like Alaska Airlines. That means they can carry more than nine passengers per flight — but must adhere to stricter safety protocols.
Up until March, Aleutian Airways flew between Anchorage and Homer. The airline had planned to continue flights through the summer. But the state of Alaska’s runway repaving program stopped that plan. As the runway was being repaved in sections, it was too narrow to accommodate Aleutian Airways’ larger aircraft. So, Ravn Alaska now provides the only air service.
Ryan Air has a large air cargo and freight operation in Western Alaska. But the carrier also offers scheduled flights between Anchorage and Aniak, aboard a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.
The PC-12 is a popular aircraft for part 135 carriers. It’s a powerful plane with a pressurized cabin. Alaska Air Taxi has a fleet of four of these aircraft. The carrier offers flights from its hangar at Merrill Field to Tatitlek and Chenega in Prince William Sound. Alaska Air Taxi also serves two destinations along the Kuskokwim River: Takotna and Nikolai.
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McGrath is between Takotna and Nikolai on the Kuskokwim. Reeve Air flies nonstop from Anchorage to McGrath five days a week (Monday-Friday). Reeve also flies twice each week between Anchorage and Glennallen. Reeve operates from a hangar on the shores of Lake Hood — not from the main terminal.
In Western Alaska, Lake and Peninsula Airways flies from Merrill Field to Port Alsworth, connecting with several villages in the area, including Nondalton, Iliamna, Pedro Bay, Igiugig and Kokhanok. Lake and Pen Air flies Cessna 208s on the routes.
Iliamna Air Taxi also flies to many of these destinations via scheduled flights from Anchorage to Iliamna. The carrier flies a pressurized PC-12 on the route.
Each transportation hub has its own collection of air carriers to fly travelers, mail and freight to villages around the state.
From Fairbanks, Everts, Wright Air Service and Warbelows fly up and down the Yukon and Tanana River Valleys.
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Wright Air Service co-workers Matt Atkinson (left) and Brett Carlson (center) help other team members load up a Cessna 208 in Fairbanks, bound for Arctic Village. (Photo by Scott McMurren)
From Nome and Kotzebue, Bering Air has an extensive network from Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island to Point Lay along the Arctic coast.
In Bethel, both Grant Aviation and Yute Air Taxi offer flights to more than 50 villages.
Down in Southeast Alaska, Alaska Seaplanes has developed an extensive network from Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan to smaller towns up and down the Inside Passage.
The extensive network of smaller, regional carriers is an essential part of Alaska’s transportation infrastructure.
[Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Ravn Alaska and Aleutian Airways are part 121 carriers, not part 131 carriers.]
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